News Organizations and Titles: Founder, Institutional Investor; editor in chief, 1967-93; publisher, 1967-90.
Legacy: Mr. Kaplan reveled in being a publisher and, in the 1970s, ran a zesty shop packed with talented writers and editors, many of whom were going through divorces or other upheavals in their personal lives.
His fiery temper sometimes showed, as did his distaste for bad stories. Once, when an otherwise solid writer turned in a substandard piece about Don Marron, now chairman of PaineWebber, Kaplan angrily dismissed it by saying, "All this says is that he's tall and has a high IQ."His sense of style and class extended to the tiniest detail, such as insisting upon expensive perfect binding for his magazine even in its lean years.
He worshipped talent and paid well for it. Among his contributors: Chris Welles, then the immediate former business editor of Life and the Saturday Evening Post and now with Business Week, who later won a National Magazine Award for the magazine.
Mr. Kaplan had an impish sense of humor. On II's masthead was listed a "K.F. Ping" as "director of research," the name being a rough translation of Kaplan's name into Japanese. Occasionally, a reader grabbed the bait and called II's offices asking for Mr. Ping. Mr. Kaplan would climb on the phone and adopt his best Japanese accent--"Ah, yes, this is Ping."
After selling his magazine to Cap Cities in 1984 for a reported $72 million, Mr. Kaplan turned to a new profession: symphony conductor. Driven by a passion for music, for II's 15th birthday party in 1982, Mr. Kaplan rented Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center and made his debut as a conductor with Mahler's "Resurrection Symphony" before a packed, black-tie house. Critics gave his early performances tepid reviews, but they improved as his skills did.
Personal: Born March 3, 1941. Member, Council on Foreign Relations; chairman emeritus of the American Symphony Orchestra; currently sits on the boards of Carnegie Hall, WNYC (New York public radio) and the South Bank Centre, London.
Family: Married Lena Bjorck in 1971. They have four children.
Education: Attended Duke University, the New School for Social Research and NYU School of Law.
Awards: 1992 Business News Luminary Award, TJFR Business News Reporter; Honorary doctor of humanities, Westminster Choir College; George Eastman Medal for Distinguished Musical Achievement, Eastman School of Music.
Books: "The Mahler Album, The Collected Works of Rene Magritte"; Recording: Mahler, Symphony Number 2, "Resurrection," with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Home run stories or accomplishments: Institutional Investor won 43 journalism awards, including the National Magazine Award for reporting in 1983.
What he made news or headlines for: Institutional Investor's hallmarks were hard-hitting stories and cutting-edge graphics, an approach Newsweek characterized as "breathless with the drama of high finance ... It was easy to read, clinically designed, thoughtfully edited, and highly authoritative."
What he has said about himself: "How much better to know that we have dared to live our dreams, than to live our lives in a lethargy of regret."
What others have said about him: Peter Landau, II's editor for 20 years until his retirement in 1991: "He's an absolutely unique combination of journalist and business type. He built the II company while showing superb editorial sense." Heidi Fiske, a writer, editor and conference manager at II from 1967 to 1981, and now back at II as director of its International Mutual Fund Institute: "Gil was good at recognizing talent, and then giving a person room to develop it. Many people found it a special time in our lives. That was Gil's doing."