ATLANTA: Jay Kapner, hotelier, volunteer

Jay Kapner always seemed to be doing something to help others, starting with teaching Hebrew Braille to blind kids when he was a teenager.

The Brooklyn, N.Y.-born son of a rabbi, Mr. Kapner earned two degrees and worked as a counselor for several years. But even after he left that field to run a hotel and nightclub, he was heavily involved in public service —- from giving polio vaccines in India to building homes for poor people in Mexico.

“He felt it was his obligation to help other people. It was who he was,” said his son, Daniel Kapner of Washington.

Mr. Kapner, 59, died Saturday from Lou Gehrig’s disease at his home in Atlanta. The funeral was Monday. A memorial is being planned for a future date in Wilmington, N.C., where he lived for many years. Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Kapner earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Boston University and a master’s in educational psychology from Springfield College in Massachusetts.

Following college, he worked as a counselor to heroin addicts in a Boston methadone clinic, counseled at-risk teens and helped welfare mothers find training and jobs.

After a few years, he joined his wife’s family business —- hospitality —- and became co-owner of the Greentree Inn, Yellow Rose Saloon, and Rockits Rhythm & Sports in Wilmington. He was in the hotel and nightclub business for 24 years.

Through his involvement with Rotary International, Mr. Kapner volunteered to build houses for homeless people, bring clean drinking water to villages overseas, promote AIDS awareness, help with disaster relief and many other causes.

Mr. Kapner also played guitar and was a huge fan of the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and other bands and singer-songwriters from the 1960s, said his daughter Tamar Williams of Atlanta.

“He had more than 1,500 record albums, and I mean the old records,” she said.

He and his wife, Lee Kapner of Atlanta, attended almost 250 concerts together, including one last month after Mr. Kapner became ill.

The couple rented a limousine and traveled to Birmingham, with nurses and oxygen tanks, to see Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt perform. He met the musicians backstage, his daughter said.

For years, Mr. Kapner played guitar in a duo known as the Simcha Players, which performed at music festivals and with the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra. Simcha is a Hebrew word for joy.

Additional survivors include his parents, Rabbi Nathan Kapner and Pearl Kapner of Seaford, N.Y.; a sister, Wendy Pusateri of Oceanside, N.Y.; and two grandchildren.