Melissa Rebecca Caplan
Melissa Rebecca Caplan, beloved daughter, sister and niece, forever the light of our lives. Proud graduate of Indiana University and the University of Pennsylvania. Esteemed colleague. World traveler. Famously funny. Fierce in her affection for family and friends; in her views on politics and fashion; and in her work ethic, from Salesforce to the U.S. Senate.
Cherished by parents Bill and Susan Caplan, brother Mac Caplan, Auntie Gayle Caplan, cousins Andrew and Hilary Romanoff. Donations in Melissa’s memory may be made to Aleh Negev (aleh.org), Temple Isaiah Lafayette, or a charity of your choice.
Helen Diller
March 18, 1929–Jan. 9, 2015
Helen was born and raised in San Francisco and was the only daughter of Dora and William Samuels. Her loving brothers Harry and Saul both predeceased her. Helen married Sanford N. Diller in 1951 and started their family. Helen is survived by her husband, Sanford, in addition to her loving children, Brad Diller, Ron (Manu) Diller and Jackie (Dan) Safier, and her beloved grandchildren Ben, Danielle, Joseph, Roy, and Yoni Diller and Joshua and Lauren Safier.
Helen met Sanford when they were both undergraduates at the University of California, Berkeley. Helen went on to become a community leader and a philanthropist with a primary focus on education, science and the arts.
She served as the Northwest President of the American Friends of Hebrew University and as Chair of the Bay Area Friends of the Weizmann Institute of Science. She received the Scopus Award from Hebrew University, the Visionary Leader Award from the San Francisco–based Jewish Community Federation, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Society of Fundraising Professionals, among many others.
Drawing upon the past and investing in a brighter future, Helen made philanthropy her life’s work. In Helen’s own words: “It’s never too late, too early, or too often to give back and make the world a better place.” In her role as President of the Helen Diller Family Foundation, Helen was imaginative, consistent and extremely generous. She created an international leadership program for Jewish teens that is continuing to expand throughout the world. She also initiated a national award program to recognize Jewish teens for outstanding leadership, volunteerism and their contributions toward improving the world. Further, she created an award for educators, to recognize excellence in Jewish education.
Helen valued the power of education, as evidenced by the Helen Diller Family Foundation’s support of Jewish studies at U.C. Berkeley and U.C. Santa Cruz; a leadership program for young adults administered by the Wexner Heritage Foundation; the School of Education at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel; the San Francisco Jewish Community Center Preschool; Brandeis Hillel Day School; and many others.
In recent years supporting groundbreaking medical research rose to the top of Helen’s “to do” list. In June 2009, UCSF inaugurated the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at Mission Bay specializing in leading-edge research to detect, treat and prevent cancer. Helen was an early catalyst of UCSF’s flagship Mission Bay Campus with the addition of Helen Diller Family cancer research building.
Helen also valued the way that arts and culture enriched human lives. She led the Foundation in funding the de Young Museum entrance courtyard, new galleries in the expanding San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and an annual Israel Antiquities Series at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.
She also sought to ensure that children and families in San Francisco benefitted from new, artistic and imaginative playgrounds by creating the Helen Diller Playground at Dolores Park, the Helen Diller Play Area at Julius Kahn Park and, now, the Helen Diller Civic Center Playground, which is in the planning phase.
A private family funeral and family shivas were held. A public memorial service will be held at Congregation Emanu-El, 2 Lake St., S.F., at 3 p.m. on Feb. 22. For more information, contact Sinai Memorial Chapel, (415) 921-3636, [email protected].
Irving Golden
Oct. 2, 1925–Jan. 10, 2015
In San Rafael at age 89. Beloved husband of the late Gilda Golden for almost 49 years. Loving brother of Hannah Hamovitch; loving father of Douglas (Joyce), Arlene (Robert), Ken (Catherine), Steve, Lois (Charlie), and Diane (Barry); adoring grandfather of five and great-grandfather of two; close relative and friend to many.
Irving was born and raised in Los Angeles and attended UCLA. After his service in the U.S. Navy, he worked for over 40 years as a manager of Goodman Lumber. In his retirement years he was an active member and president of many organizations, including B’nai B’rith, City of Hope–Marin chapter, Community Action Marin, San Rafael Police Department and SIRS, as well as a past member of the Marin Grand Jury.
Sinai Memorial Chapel (415) 921-3636
Dr. Norman S. Coplon “The Heart of Satellite”
(1937-2015)
Dr. Norman S. Coplon, the pioneering founder of Satellite Healthcare Inc. (San Jose, California) and a committed husband, father, physician, professor, businessman and volunteer, passed peacefully Sunday morning, Jan. 11, 2015, at home with his family by his side, after a long illness. He was 77.
Dr. Coplon was known throughout the field of nephrology and the dialysis industry for his patient-first focus, which became the hallmark of his not-for-profit company and his innovative spirit, which evoked many new industry standards.
Born in Syracuse, New York on June 19, 1937 to Jack and Edith Coplon, Dr. Coplon knew from an early age that his vocation in life was to help others. He attended Syracuse University and went on to medical school at the State University of New York Upstate Medical Center, where he specialized in renal-electrolytes, the precursor to the field of nephrology.
Dr. Coplon was known even in his student days as a visionary with an unusual degree of determination; once he set his mind to something he found a way to make it happen, no matter the obstacles. Sandra “Sandy” Coplon, his wife of 53 years, learned this early on. In October 1960, Dr. Coplon spotted her at the hospital while she was with her nursing program observing him examine a patient. The next day he saw her again at the Syracuse University library. He took an opportune moment to ask her out — never mind the fact the young nursing student was accompanied by a date that evening. When her date took leave to use the restroom, Dr. Coplon swiftly made his move. The next day, day three of their adventure, he brought Sandy flowers on their first “official” date from his mother’s garden and the pair married the summer of 1961 during their school break.
Between his first and second year of residency at Syracuse, he packed his family up and took a detour to Arizona. He spent the next two years as a resident physician in the Army. Staying true to his beliefs he found himself nearly court-martialed three times, because he chose patient care over military orders.
In 1966 he moved to California with his young family, completed his residency at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in San Francisco followed by a fellowship in nephrology at Stanford University School of Medicine, and was named Medical Director of Stanford’s Renal Care Unit. When he took the helm there, dialysis had been in use for about a decade and was only available at large regional hospitals. Some of Dr. Coplon’s patients traveled hours for their dialysis treatments, significantly impacting their lives and those of their families. Aided by extensive research and the support of his medical community, Dr. Coplon soon developed an innovative new delivery model he believed could provide patients not only with better access to care, but more personalized, comfortable care as well.
In 1973, the first freestanding dialysis facility in California opened in San Jose, with Dr. Coplon leading a staff of four. Initially conceived of as a satellite center of Stanford, Dr. Coplon had to call upon his friends for help and self-funded his idea as an independent entity, when the original plan didn’t develop. Dr. Coplon named his not-for-profit company Satellite Dialysis. His patients were treated in La-Z-Boy chairs he personally selected — a departure from the in-bed treatments administered at hospitals — so they could now read, watch TV, and talk to fellow patients and staff while dialyzing.
Dr. Coplon and his team strived to provide a homelike setting to make patients feel like part of a family. The model proved to be a success, and soon other Satellite Dialysis centers opened their doors across the greater San Francisco Bay Area and Central Valley. In 1999 Satellite Dialysis was renamed Satellite Healthcare to reflect the wide variety of services and activities being conducted, including the funding of on-site and off-site research and extensive efforts to better educate patients and the public about end-stage renal disease. Today, Satellite Healthcare’s staff of over 1,500 provides care to more than 6,000 patients across 75-plus centers in six states.
Dr. Coplon’s passion for making life better for those living with kidney disease was matched only by his sense of humor. His light-hearted nature filled each room he entered and the heart of each patient he met. Dr. Coplon was an early leader in encouraging people on dialysis to do the things they’d always loved to do, including travel, family time and work. He established the first-ever dialysis center on the grounds of Yosemite National Park so visitors could readily receive dialysis during their vacations there. He arranged for trips to Hawaii and Alaska for his staff and as many as 30 patients at a time and their immediate family — filling entire chartered planes. He brought together his patients, their families, and his own family through annual company picnics and holiday celebrations.
Dr. Coplon will be remembered for his compassion, care and leadership in all facets of his life. A devoted husband, father, grandfather, and recent great-grandfather, he tucked his children in each night when they were young, even if it meant skipping out in the middle of his rounds and then driving back to finish his work. If that proved impossible, he was often guilty of waking his children up when he got home so that he could have some playtime. Even when work consumed his days, he made it a point to camp, ski and garden with his family at every opportunity.
His daughter, Bonnie, describes him as a gregarious man who was the life of the party and, quite literally at times, a cheerleader of life. He often brought his children to football games at Stanford, where they’d sell pom-poms to fans in the stands. After the games they’d collect the pom-poms to resell at the next game, and donate the day’s earnings to the National Kidney Foundation. In 2000, Dr. Coplon and Satellite Healthcare established the Norman S. Coplon Grants, empowering young, promising researchers to seek ways to improve kidney health. The Coplon Grants have become one of the nation’s largest private research endowments offered in the renal industry.
Dr. Coplon was the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the prestigious Martin Wagner Memorial Award from the National Kidney Foundation in 1979 — the highest honor the foundation can bestow on a lay volunteer — and the organization’s Man of the Year award in 1992. At Stanford University Medical Center, he served as Adjunct Clinical Professor of Medicine, was named a Distinguished Fellow, and in 2008 a chair was endowed in his honor, the Norman S. Coplon/Satellite Healthcare Professorship in Medicine in the department of Nephrology.
Dr. Coplon is survived by his wife of 53 years, Sandra; his daughter Bonnie Hirsch and son-in-law Lee Hirsch; and grandchildren Scott, Evan and Jessy of Cupertino, California; son Dovid Coplon and daughter-in-law Erika Coplon; and granddaughters Daphne and Trixie of San Francisco; and his daughter Deana Bressel and son-in-law Jonathan Bressel; grandchildren Chaim, Esther, Davora, Yaakov, Chana, Shmuel, Tsvi and Asher; and great-grandson Nossan of Jerusalem, Israel; brother Arthur Coplon of Syracuse, New York; two nieces and a nephew, Andee, Peter, and Suzanne; a close network of cousins; his loving caregivers, Siua, Ron, Jeff, and Roy; and his devoted dog Yonkel. A memorial service honoring Dr. Coplon’s life was held Tuesday, Jan. 13 at Congregation Kol Emeth in Palo Alto.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Norman S. Coplon Memorial Fund at the National Kidney Foundation.
Maxine L. Plotkin
After a brief but courageous battle with cancer Maxine passed on December 19, 2014 with her loving family by her side.
Maxine will be missed by her loving husband Norman, of near 50 years; her beloved children Jeffrey, and Suzanne (Brian) Young; and her adoring grandchildren Simon and Carter Young.
Maxine enjoyed her volunteer work at Mills Peninsula Hospital and she will be greatly missed by all.
Services were held on December 31st at Peninsula Temple Beth El in San Mateo with interment at Home of Peace Cemetery in Colma.
Donations in memory of Maxine may be sent to the Peninsula Temple Beth El Building Fund or to the Sinai Memorial Chapel Chevra Kadisha Fund, c/o 1501 Divisadero Street, San Francisco, CA 94115
Sinai Memorial Chapel (415) 921-3636