From Love to Legacy

IN MANY WAYS, David and Betty Klapper had a storybook life together. They met in Bloomington as undergrads at Indiana University. After Betty finished work at a campus bakery one day, David asked her for a date. A year later, they were married. As they moved through life, Betty encouraged David in his business ventures, including when he and a friend decided to create an athletic footwear company. She even suggested the name — The Finish Line — and the company became a success. Their family grew to include two sons and six grandchildren. They remained together for 52 years — until her death in 2022, at age 73.

Yet, it was their final 15 years — as Betty began to descend into dementia — where their story became much more difficult. David was constantly at Betty’s side, trying to give her the highest quality of life he could, but it was all consuming. “You end up living her life and trying to live your life, and it’s a real balancing act,” he said. “It just takes its toll.”

That toll is being shared by millions of caregivers across the country and around the world. Nearly 7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of dementia, and there are more than 11 million people in America providing unpaid care to a family or friend with dementia.

For David Klapper, his personal experience as a caregiver, and conversations with friends and researchers at IU School of Medicine, inspired him to do something to improve the experience of caregivers for people living with dementia. In February, he established the Klapper Family Chair in Aging and Family Caregiving Research, whose charge will be to advance the science of caregiving and to serve as an investigator in aging research.

“We may be years from a silver bullet or a pill that reverses or halts the onset of dementia,” Klapper said. “In the meantime, we need sensible, humane care for those afflicted by this disease and the loved ones that suffer alongside them.”

IU School of Medicine Dean Jay L. Hess said the gift comes at an important moment, with the American population this year reaching its peak of people turning 65. “We have a big challenge ahead of us,” he said, “to take care of an aging population knowing that a significant number will develop chronic conditions — Alzheimer’s disease and other things — that are going to require a tremendous amount of care, including family caregivers.”

The first holder of the Klapper Family Chair will be Nicole Fowler, PhD, MHSA, who already serves as Vice Chair for Research in IU’s Department of Medicine and is a scientist in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics and the IU Center for Aging Research. She first met David and Betty Klapper more than eight years ago. For the last two years, she’s been talking with David about his experience as a caregiver and about her research. She found they share a desire to take the best practices from aging research and assist families in decision making and other wraparound services.

“I’ve been so grateful to get to know Mr. Klapper and his family and learn about their experience,” Fowler said. “I’m eager to advance the science of caregiving, implement it into practice and care delivery, and improve the experience for other people, thanks to the generosity they have shown.”

Department of Medicine Chair David M. Aronoff, MD, said Fowler is a superstar in the field and the work she and others do is one of the reasons IU’s Department of Medicine and its multidisciplinary research programs in Alzheimer’s Disease and neurodegenerative diseases stands apart from its peers around the country. Aronoff said the gift will enable the chairholder to take research from the theoretical to making a difference in the lives of families.

That’s important to Klapper, who said he knows that for each of the 7 million people afflicted with Alzheimer’s there are at least 7 million caregivers suffering alongside them. He’s eager to watch the impact that Fowler can make with his gift.

“I had the wherewithal to take care of my wife Betty, but not everybody is as fortunate as I was,” he said. “I knew there were a lot of people suffering. The research and the interest that Dr. Fowler has decided to focus on — people suffering from dementia — I thought was just a perfect fit.”

To learn more about how to support research in aging and family caregiving, contact Kathryn Red, executive director of development, at kred@iu.edu or 317-274-3685.