Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Slain visitor’s
kin grateful for
Hawaii’s sympathy

Norman Chaplan, 81, of Canada
was fatally hurt in a
robbery Tuesday

---

By Harold Morse
Star-Bulletin

This trip to Honolulu was to have been special for the Chaplans. They were to celebrate Lucille's 80th birthday with a big party.

Yesterday, the Chaplans' son was thanking residents "who have provided us so much sympathy" in the death of his father, Norman, after an attack at a Waikiki hotel.

"We will always remember the kindness and help that was offered to us at every turn," said Jonathan Chaplan.

Norman Chaplan, 81, of Richmond Hill, Ontario, suffered severe head injuries in the Ohana Waikiki West robbery early Tuesday and died Thursday afternoon in Queen's Medical Center.

His wife, Lucille, is especially appreciative of the staff of the neurological unit at Queen's who cared for her late husband in his last hours and provided warmth and support she will never forget, Jonathan Chaplan said.

The suspect, Steven Michael Hauge, 43, was arraigned in Honolulu District Court yesterday in another robbery that occurred Monday and was later transferred to Oahu Community Correctional Center. He is under a total of $100,000 bail for two counts of kidnapping and one count each of second-degree robbery, first-degree terroristic threatening and first-degree burglary.

Police Chief Lee Donohue has said all indications are that Hauge is the suspect in the Chaplan murder.

A CrimeStoppers tip helped link Hauge to the attack.

Jonathan Chaplan told reporters at the Outrigger Reef Hotel his father had been a salesman of various things, that he was born and raised in Toronto and also is survived by a daughter and two grandchildren.

Asked to describe his father, the son said, "My father was a very gregarious person who would go into a room and get to know everyone very quickly." His father was always smiling and joking, Jonathan Chaplan said.

"My mother's doing very well under the circumstances," the son said. "Obviously, it's extremely difficult for my mom." His parents had known each other since they were teen-agers and had been married more than 50 years, he said.

Gov. Ben Cayetano joined in expressing sympathy yesterday. "I am extremely saddened that someone who came to enjoy our beautiful islands would come to such grievous harm," the governor said. "It is a great shock to have a visitor so brutally attacked here. My deepest sympathies go out to Mr. Chaplan's family."

Dr. Richard Kelley, chairman, and David Carey, president and chief executive officer, of Outrigger Hotels said in a joint statement, "The passing of a loved husband and father is always difficult, but to lose that life through a senseless act of violence is incomprehensible."

Contributions to the family can be made at any Bank of Hawaii branch or by mailing a check to the Bank of Hawaii's Waikiki branch at 2228 Kalakaua Ave., Honolulu 96815. The name of the fund is "Friends of the Chaplan Family."