Dr. Eugene Leslie Klupt, who practiced general dentistry in Frederick for nearly four decades and was an active member of that community’s Beth Sholom Congregation, passed away on Thursday, Sept. 25. Klupt was 91.
A Baltimore native, he was the son of Oscar Isaac Klupt and Hannah Lillian “Billie” Obertier Klupt, both of whom were born in Baltimore.
A 1952 graduate of Baltimore City College, Gene Klupt earned his bachelor of arts degree from Gettysburg College and his doctor of dental surgery degree from the Howard University College of Dentistry in 1961. At Howard, he was inducted into the Alpha Omega fraternity.
After completing dentistry school, Klupt moved to New York City for his dental residency at what was then known as the Jewish Hospital of Brooklyn. While there, he met and married Gale Mary Parman, a nurse, in 1963. They were married for nearly 52 years until her death in August of 2015.
Gene Klupt opened his first dental practice in Brooklyn, with his wife serving as manager and bookkeeper. After living in Manhattan and later Brooklyn, the Klupts decided in 1966 to leave the New York metropolitan area and raise their family in Frederick in 1966.
Klupt’s first dental practice was located at the Frederick Shopping Center and then at the Frederick Health Toll House medical complex, serving generations of patients.
Klupt served on Beth Sholom’s board of trustees and, with the late Rabbi Morris Kosman, helped run weekly Bingo games as a fundraiser for the synagogue. He also served on the executive board of the Frederick County Dental Society. (Gale Klupt was an active member of Beth Sholom’s sisterhood and served as treasurer for the National Council of Jewish Women. She was also among the founders of Camp Shoresh in the Frederick County community of Adamstown.)
In his spare time, Gene Klupt enjoyed traveling with his wife and playing poker every week with a longtime group of friends. He and his wife also became licensed pilots and were members of the Frederick-based Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
“He often said that family was the most important thing to him, and he would bend anyone’s ear to crow about the accomplishments of his children and grandchildren,” his family posted on the website of Sol Levinson & Bros.
Klupt is survived by his sons and daughters-in-law, Mark Klupt and Caitlin Herlihy of Falls Church, Virginia, and Evan Klupt and Dr. Amy Bass of New Rochelle, New York; his grandchildren, Hannah, Jack, Benjamin and Lillian; his brother, Harvey (Pamela) Klupt; his sister-in-law Marjorie Duberstein, and his niece, Jennifer Duberstein.
A graveside service will be held on Friday, Sept. 26, at noon at Resthaven Memorial Gardens, 9501 Catoctin Mountain Highway in Frederick.
Donations in Gene Klupt’s memory can be made to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, 1399 S. Roxbury Drive, Los Angeles, California 90035; National Jewish Health, 1400 Jackson Street, Denver, Colorado 80206; the Southern Poverty Law Center, 403 Washington Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104; or Beth Sholom Congregation, 1011 N. Market Street, Frederick, Maryland 21701.
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