On Saturday November 14, 2020, Joan Kaplan Stern passed away in Princeton, New Jersey in much the same manner as she lived her long and fulfilling life – quietly and unassumingly surrounded by immediate family who loved her dearly. Born on January 18, 1942, to the late Albert and Eleanor Kaplan in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Joan was the youngest of three children. Her older siblings, the late Richard Emmanuel Kaplan and the late Judith Kaplan House were big role models, who the shy younger sister loved and admired her entire life. Family was the most important thing to Joan (with the Phillies and Eagles a close second and third, respectively). She spoke often and fondly of a childhood spent in large family gatherings surrounded not only by her parents and siblings, but also by uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews all of whom Joan adored.
A voracious reader with a sharp intellect, Joan attended Upper Darby High School in Drexel Hill, PA graduating with honors and receiving a scholarship to attend the University of Pennsylvania. At Penn, Joan would meet David Joel Stern, who she would go on to marry. The couple had three children Robert, Melissa and Abigail and consistent with the tremendous import of family to Joan, she would devote the next 25 years of her life to raising her children. She provided them with as much love and support as she could, always sacrificing her own wants and needs to those of her children. It was only after her youngest, Abigail, left for college that Joan resumed a successful professional career working in the accounting departments of Makrancy's Landscaping, Lark Marketing and Pharmagistics.
The only things Joan cared about even remotely as much as her family were her Philadelphia sports teams and Mahjong (she also dabbled in Canasta but not with the same fervor). Joan was an avid and tortured Phillies and Eagles fan who relished her loyalty to those teams when they were losing as much or more than she enjoyed the brief moments when they enjoyed the ultimate success. Joan also loved her Mahjong group like family. For more than 40 years, the group played every week, no matter what. It actually took a global pandemic to put a hiatus on their game. With this free time, Joan, ever the Democrat, dedicated herself to reading and complaining about Trump.
But more than anything Joan loved her children and grandchildren. She cherished their successes and always tried to comfort them in failure. Joan was a testament to a life well-lived in service of others. She is survived by her children Robert (Brittany), Melissa (Jeremy), and Abigail (Eric) Woodworth and her grandchildren, who she adored more than life itself, Jacob, Alexander and Wesley.
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