About The Kaplers


Gabe Kapler grew up in a nurturing environment where his parents, Judy and Michael Kapler, both educators, encouraged non-violent conflict resolution. Open and honest communication laid the groundwork for each family member to express their ideas and feelings. Participants in numerous peace projects, Judy and Michael have taken an active stance against violence since the 1960’s.
Judy, Co-Founder of the Gabe Kapler Foundation, earned an MA in Child Development in New York. She has been teaching, directing, counseling and advocating for children for 25 years. Judy has helped hundreds of families find solutions to the most serious challenges of parenting and access the resources available. Michael is a pianist, a music teacher and peace activist. His commitment to co-parenting his children in a home free from gender stereotyping has long been a role model for Gabe. Judy and Michael are respected members of their community. Along with their personal experience and knowledge, they have access to a plethora of valuable resources that enhance our foundation’s success.


	Gabe aspired to be a major league baseball player when he was five years old, playing T-ball at Reseda Park in Southern California. While playing for the Taft High School varsity team, he began to believe that he really had a chance to live his dream. In 1995 Gabe was drafted out of Moorpark College by the Detroit Tigers. In 1998 he was playing for the Tigers in the Major Leagues. He was later traded from the Tigers to the Texas Rangers, and then to the Colorado Rockies. In 2003, he joined the Boston Red Sox. One year later, the curse that had hung over Fenway Park for 86 years, from the time Babe Ruth was traded to the Yankees, ended. Gabe was in right field when The Red Sox recorded the final out and became the 2004 World Series Champions! Although making it to the big leagues fulfilled his childhood dream, Gabe now dreams about helping all children feel safe enough to focus on dreams of their own.
Gabe is convinced that all men have an obligation to speak out against domestic violence. Each man has the opportunity and the responsibility to serve as a role model and teacher for other men and boys in their treatment of women and children.

Lisa was raised in a non-abusive home. She knew nothing about the cycle of domestic violence nor its
danger signs. At the end of her freshman year of high school, Lisa found herself trapped in an emotionally
and physically abusive relationship. Her boyfriend beat her; then apologized. Each time she believed that this was the last time. But he beat her time and time again. He blamed his anger on her. She tried to leave. He threatened her. He threatened to hurt her family. He stalked her. Lisa lived in constant fear for her life. It took three years and the support of her family to break away from her abuser. Finally free, at age 17, Lisa began dating Gabe. “Gabe was the one to catch me when I was falling” says Lisa. “And before long our relationship became a role model for what a healthy union should be.” Today, Lisa and Gabe are happily married and live
in California with their two sons.

For eleven years, Gabe and Lisa kept her terrible secret from the public. In June 2004, they were living in Boston while Gabe was playing for the Red Sox. It was then that Lisa learned that Jane Doe Inc., a Massachusetts coalition that brings together organizations and people committed to ending domestic violence, would be the beneficiary of “Picnic in the Park,” a large fund-raiser organized by the Red Sox wives. Lisa decided it was time to share her secret. She stunned the public, as well as unknowing family and friends, by revealing that she too, had been a victim of abuse. The Boston Globe printed her entire story. To read Lisa’s story in its entirety, see www.boston.com/yourlife/relationships/articles/2004/06/24/fighting_back?pmode=PF

As the wife of a professional baseball player, Lisa believes that professional athletes and celebrities have been granted a gift, the gift of celebrity, that empowers them to help their communities by bringing important social issues into the spotlight. Gabe Kapler is doing just that! Lisa and Gabe chose to tell her story so that other women, especially teenagers, would know what signs to look for and how to protect themselves from becoming victims of abuse.

Together, Lisa and Gabe do public interviews and speak to groups of Middle and High School students, sharing her experiences during the three years she was terrorized by an abusive boyfriend. They discuss the skills needed to build a healthy and respectful relationship. They are also members of the Men’s Resource Center of Massachusetts, an organization that supports ongoing groups that teach men to understand and stop abusive behaviors.