Deborah Kaplan died on November 12, 2006 at the age of 53. She was born in Chicago, Ill. in 1952.
Kaplan was an assistant professor of communication at the University of Washington, where she taught narrative journalism. Her entire career was spent in journalism, including stints at the Detroit Free Press and the Metro Times in Detroit. She was known for her immersion-style reporting on social issues such as poverty and migrant workers. In May 2005, she earned her Doctorate in Journalism and Sociology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She moved to Seattle three years ago.
Deborah is survived by her brothers, Gordon Kaplan and Lawrence Kaplan, and five nieces and nephews.
Those wishing to make memorials may give to the “Deborah Noel Kaplan Fund to support narrative journalism and graduate student research on social issues, with preference for field research at the Department of Communication University of Washington,” which is being created in her name.