Thomas Kaplan

Thomas Scott Kaplan
Born	(1962-09-14) September 14, 1962 New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Entrepreneur, philanthropist, art enthusiast
Years active	1991–present
Known for	Chairman and CIO of The Electrum Group; foremost private collector of Rembrandt artworks; founder of Panthera and The Leiden Collection

Thomas Scott Kaplan (born September 14, 1962) is a French-American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and art enthusiast, acknowledged as the foremost private collector of Rembrandt artworks globally.

Kaplan serves as chairman and chief investment officer of The Electrum Group LLC, an investment, advisory, and asset management firm based in New York City that specializes in natural resources. Since 2017, he has led the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (ALIPH), a Geneva-based foundation established by France and the United Arab Emirates.

Early life and education

Kaplan was born in New York City to Lillian Jean Kaplan and Jason "Jay" Kaplan, into a Jewish household.

His early passions for wildlife conservation and Rembrandt motivated him to found the conservation organization Panthera as well as The Leiden Collection, which represents the largest private collection of Dutch Golden Age paintings.

He completed his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral studies in history at Oxford University, where he was mentored by Sir Michael Howard and Robert O’Neill. His doctoral thesis examined Malayan counterinsurgency strategies and the strategic significance of commodities. While pursuing his Ph.D., Kaplan worked as an analyst focusing on Israeli companies publicly traded in the United States.

During a business trip, Kaplan met his future spouse, Dafna Recanati—daughter of Israeli investor Leon Recanati—who had also attended the Swiss boarding school (Institut Le Rosey) that Kaplan attended. Through Dafna’s mother, artist Mira Recanati, Kaplan connected with Israeli investor Avi Tiomkin. Tiomkin appointed him junior partner in 1991 after Kaplan accurately anticipated Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. When Tiomkin shifted his investments exclusively to Israel in 1993, Kaplan embarked on his own entrepreneurial path.

Career

Influenced by Marc Faber, who regarded precious metals as a safeguard against central banks' "monetary recklessness," Kaplan concentrated on investing in natural resources. In 1993, he launched Apex Silver Mines to exploit favorable metals supply and demand dynamics. As chairman and CEO of Apex, his team discovered and financed mining operations at Bolivia's San Cristobal deposit. Kaplan stepped down from Apex Silver at the close of 2004.

In 2003, a company affiliated with Kaplan became the largest shareholder in African Platinum Plc (formerly Southern African Resources Plc). He divested his holdings in 2007 following Impala Platinum Limited’s $580 million acquisition of the company.

Also in 2003, Kaplan established Leor Exploration & Production LLC, which rapidly became the fastest-growing privately owned hydrocarbon exploration and production firm in the United States. In 2007, Encana (now Ovintiv) acquired Leor's natural gas assets for $2.55 billion.

Kaplan began significant investments in gold around the year 2000. After selling African Platinum and Leor Energy in 2007, he concentrated on managing the Electrum Group. Electrum Ltd., its exploration division co-founded with Dr. Larry Buchanan, holds gold exploration rights. Other subsidiaries maintain stakes in publicly traded firms such as NovaGold Resources and Gabriel Resources Ltd., both possessing gold assets. Electrum also holds majority ownership of Sunshine Silver Mining & Refining Corporation, proprietor of Idaho's historic Sunshine Mine, while advancing development of Mexico’s Los Gatos silver-zinc deposit alongside Japanese partner Dowa. Gatos Silver went public in October 2020, generating $170 million through its offering.

In early 2009, Kaplan expressed that gold priced below $1,000 was undervalued and advised acquiring it.

In August 2020, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway invested in Barrick Gold, which partners with NOVAGOLD on Alaska’s Donlin Gold mine. Kaplan recalled Buffett’s earlier purchase of silver bullion during his own silver mining IPO back in 1997. Starting from 2010 onward, Kaplan steadily acquired silver mining interests anticipating a price rebound.

Kaplan’s investment approach prioritizes securing exceptional assets that offer strong leverage to prevailing market trends—yet only within political environments that safeguard investor returns. Industry experts refer to this emphasis on jurisdictional security as the "Kaplan Doctrine."

Leiden Collection

Kaplan's enthusiasm for Dutch art originated during his youth. Together with his spouse, Dafna Recanati Kaplan, he began assembling Dutch Golden Age paintings in 2003, starting with Gerrit Dou's Portrait of Dirck van Beresteyn. The collection, named after Leiden—the Dutch city where both Rembrandt and Dou were born—is among the most extensive private holdings of Dutch art, comprising over 250 paintings and drawings. The majority of these works are available through a complimentary, high-resolution digital catalogue. The Kaplans envisioned the collection as a "lending library for old masters," facilitating loans for exhibitions and long-term displays. Noteworthy pieces include Rembrandt's Self-Portrait with Shaded Eyes and Minerva in Her Study. In 2019, the collection was featured in the BBC documentary "Looking for Rembrandt." Early in 2023, 35 artworks were loaned to Hermitage Amsterdam for an exhibition.

The Leiden Collection focuses significantly on Rembrandt and artists within his circle, containing fifteen paintings and two drawings attributed to Rembrandt and his contemporaries such as Pieter Lastman and Jan Lievens. It also includes a self-portrait by Lievens dated around 1629–1630. Artists from 17th-century Leiden are well represented, including Gerrit Dou—who is featured with thirteen paintings spanning his career—Johannes Vermeer's A Young Woman Seated at the Virginals (1670–1672), and Carel Fabritius's Hagar and the Angel. A comprehensive catalogue of Dou’s oeuvre, accompanied by technical studies, was published in 2014. The online catalogue launched in January 2017 offers detailed information on more than 175 items from the collection.

The Five Senses by Rembrandt van Rijn

During a 2015 auction held in Bloomfield, New Jersey, a European buyer acquired The Fainting Patient, also known as Smell, for $870,000—surpassing its pre-sale estimate of $800. This early work by Rembrandt from 1624 belongs to his The Five Senses series. Shortly thereafter, the Leiden Collection purchased it for $5 million. The collection also holds Hearing and Touch from this series; meanwhile, Sight is part of Museum De Lakenhal’s holdings in Leiden, and Taste remains unaccounted for.

The painting Smell bears Rembrandt's earliest known monogram (RF or RHF, meaning Rembrandt Harmensz. fecit) and corresponds in both style and dimensions with other works from the series. In 2016, the Leiden Collection exhibited its three pieces at the Getty Museum; the complete group of four was reunited for exhibitions at the Ashmolean Museum and Rembrandthuis in 2017.

Exhibitions

Significant exhibitions showcasing the Leiden Collection include:

• April 9 – August 24, 2025: From Rembrandt to Vermeer: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection, H'ART Museum, Amsterdam
• September 14 – December 31, 2024: Delights of the Senses: Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art and Life, Featuring Paintings from the Leiden Collection, Albany Institute of History & Art, Albany
• February 4 – August 27, 2023: Rembrandt & His Contemporaries. History Paintings from the Leiden Collection, H'ART Museum, Amsterdam
• September 28 – December 19, 2021: Changing Forms: Metamorphosis in Myth, Art, and Nature, 1650–1700, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie
• February 14 – May 18, 2019: Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age. Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre, Louvre Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi
• September 5, 2018 – January 13, 2019: The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
• March 28 – July 22, 2018: The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection, Pushkin Museum, Moscow
• September 23, 2017 – February 25, 2018: Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden Age: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection, Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai
• June 17 – September 3, 2017: Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection, National Museum of China, Beijing
• February 22 – May 22, 2017: Le siècle de Rembrandt, Louvre, Paris
• March 11 – August 31, 2014: Gerrit Dou. The Leiden Collection from New York, Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden

Foreign Policy

Kaplan holds membership in the Council on Foreign Relations and participates in the International Council of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. There, he co-established the Recanati–Kaplan Foundation Fellows Program, designed specifically for intelligence professionals. In 2020, a comparable Petraeus-Recanati-Kaplan Fellowship was introduced at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs, providing selected military personnel with a one-year master's degree in global affairs. The Recanati-Kaplan Applied History Initiative was inaugurated in 2022 at the University of Cambridge to enhance Middle East policy-making through historical analysis.

In 2018, Kaplan co-founded Justice for Kurds (JFK), a New York-based advocacy organization dedicated to elevating international awareness of Kurdish issues, where he serves as chairman. The advisory board of JFK comprises policymakers, journalists, diplomats, military officials, and artists.

Although he openly identifies as a “Persophile” admiring Iran's cultural heritage, Kaplan frequently faces criticism from Iranian media due to his opposition to the regime. Together with Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, he provided the majority of the $1.7 million funding for United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) in 2013. In 2014, UANI was subject to a defamation lawsuit filed by a Greek businessman accused of engaging with Iran; the suit was dismissed following intervention by U.S. authorities citing national security interests.

At a 2017 UANI event, Kaplan likened Iran’s influence in Iraq to a reticulated python devouring a goat and accused its government of employing taqiyya as a tactic to mask imperialist objectives. In response, Iran’s Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation ended its collaboration with Kaplan’s NGO Panthera, denouncing his remarks as unfounded and offensive. Subsequently, Iranian officials detained activists linked to Panthera on allegations of treason; those arrested maintain their innocence.

Community, Culture, and Antiquities

Kaplan held the position of president (2009–2012) and later chairman (2012–2015) at the 92nd Street Y, one of New York City’s premier Jewish cultural institutions. Alongside his wife Dafna and Robert Gilson, he helped establish the Recanati–Kaplan Program for Excellence in the Arts, which provides scholarships to emerging artists at 92Y’s School of the Arts. In Florida, Kaplan and his wife endowed the Lillian Jean Kaplan Renal Transplantation Center at the University of Miami and funded research initiatives targeting polycystic kidney disease (PKD).

In collaboration with the Florence Gould Foundation in 2014, the Kaplans played a key role in founding Albertine Books, a French-language bookstore located within New York City’s historic French Embassy building that features the largest collection of French literature and translations available in the United States. The Recanati-Kaplan Prize was launched by Villa Albertine in 2022 to foster artistic exchanges between the U.S., France, and Arab countries by awarding residencies to prominent Arab intellectuals.

After losing his childhood friend Simon Marsh in 2015, Kaplan sold two meticulously restored Supermarine Spitfire Mark I fighter aircraft. One plane, Spitfire N3200, was donated to the Imperial War Museum at Duxford; the other, Spitfire P9374, achieved a record sale price at Christie’s London auction house, with proceeds benefiting both the RAF Benevolent Society and wildlife conservation efforts.

In 2017, Kaplan assumed chairmanship of the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (ALIPH), a Geneva-based foundation initiated by France and the UAE to finance projects safeguarding cultural heritage from destruction or theft. The organization’s board includes members from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco, China, various international bodies, and private benefactors.

On October 29, 2019, Kaplan was honored with the Hadrian Award by the World Monuments Fund in New York City for his outstanding contributions toward advancing global preservation efforts in art and architecture.

Conservation

Often referred to as the "King of Cats" by Forbes Magazine, Kaplan dedicated 15 years as executive chairman of Panthera Corporation, a nonprofit he co-established alongside his wife and Alan Rabinowitz in 2006. Panthera is committed to safeguarding big cats and their habitats, earning recognition as a premier organization in felid preservation. The initiative has been likened to a "Manhattan Project" for big cats by 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon.

Renowned conservationist Doug Tompkins hailed Panthera as the leading authority in big cat protection, while National Geographic acknowledged it as the most extensive wildcat conservation program globally. Kaplan was honored with the "Hero of the Year Award" at the International Wildlife Film Festival in 2012 for his environmental advocacy. In various interviews, he expressed his deep commitment to wildlife preservation, drawing parallels between this passion and his admiration for artists such as Rembrandt.

Together with his wife, Kaplan launched a felid conservation initiative at Oxford University in collaboration with David Macdonald (biologist), endowing the Recanati-Kaplan Center and supporting Oxford’s Postgraduate Diploma in International Wildlife Conservation Practice. In 2012, Oxford’s WildCRU earned the Queen's Anniversary Prize for outstanding achievements in wildlife conservation. Kaplan also financed the Hwange Lion Research Project in Zimbabwe, notably connected to the 2015 incident involving Cecil the lion.

The Kaplans established the Orianne Society, which is devoted to protecting the eastern indigo snake and its longleaf pine forest ecosystem in the Southeastern United States. They contributed 2,500 acres of essential habitat to create the Orianne Indigo Snake Preserve in Georgia. Their efforts were recognized with the New Species Award in 2014, which included naming rights for Orianne's Tree Snake granted by the African Rainforest Conservancy.

At the 2018 Paris Peace Forum, Kaplan introduced the Indian Ocean Tortoise Alliance (IOTA), an organization based in Seychelles aimed at conserving and rewilding Aldabra tortoises throughout their historic range.

In 2020, Panthera launched "Leopard Spotted," a campaign encouraging individuals who wear leopard print to raise awareness and contribute through royalty donations. Kaplan told The New Yorker that harnessing fashion trends could generate substantial funds to protect leopards without compromising personal style.

Distinctions

In March 2014, Kaplan was bestowed with the title of Chevalier within France’s highest civilian distinction, the Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur. The French Ambassador to the United States, François Delattre, described Kaplan as a "game changer and Renaissance man," acknowledging his multifaceted roles as an entrepreneur, philanthropist, environmentalist, and art collector.

Kaplan was elevated to Commandeur rank in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by France’s Minister of Culture, Audrey Azoulay, in March 2017, recognizing the Kaplan family’s worldwide impact on the arts.

In September 2018, he was appointed Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau for his efforts in promoting Dutch culture and enhancing international cultural relations. The decoration was presented by Dutch Ambassador Renée Jones-Bos at Saint Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum.

Personal life

Kaplan is wed to Dafna Recanati Kaplan, who is the daughter of the Israeli painter Mira Recanati and financier Leon Recanati. The couple has three offspring.