Mr. Michael Carl Klapp

Michael Carl Klapp, of Baltimore, MD, passed away peacefully at home on Friday, May 6, 2022. He was 69 years old. Born in Maryland on November 9, 1952 to the late Lloyd E. and Mae R. (nee Seidl) Klapp of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, he is survived by his children, Ripley Morgan Klapp, Oliver Klapp, and Flynn Harne, all of Baltimore, by his siblings; Ann Jones, Kathleen Nelson and Wayde (Elaine) Klapp, all of New Smyrna Beach, FL, and Zoe (Chris) Crabb of Dallas, GA, multiple nieces, nephews, and cousins, and his former wife, friend and co-parent of 20+ years, Tara McIntyre of Baltimore, MD, all of whom mourn his passing.
Michael was a 1970 graduate of New Smyrna Beach High School, and later graduated the University of Central Florida with a degree in journalism, which informed his lifelong love of democracy. He was an Air Force veteran, stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Nevada in the 1970's.
For much of his career he was a computer programmer, consultant and application developer for several large corporations in Baltimore including CareFirst, Black & Decker/DeWalt, and BGE prior to accepting a Senior Developer position with Baltimore City Public Schools in the early 2000's, from which he'd planned to retire later this year.
He once ran for mayor of his adopted hometown of New Smyrna Beach, FL. He was a lover of the outdoors, the beach, camping, canoeing and hiking, along with all things related to science fiction and fantasy, be it literature, comic books, video games and augmented reality, or film. He watched "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy annually. He could quote "Star Wars" (pick your chapter) by heart. He was a devoted stay-at-home father to his daughter Ripley as he ran his own computer consulting firm in the early and mid-1990's. He was passionate about liberal politics, an articulate advocate for civil and human rights and environmental issues, and always rooted for the underdog. He was a gadget guru, and served on the tech team at his church. He was a cat whisperer, and was known to tear up at certain tv commercials about how quickly children grow up. He was an enthusiastic gardener, a generous homebrewer of beer, wine, ale and mead, and shared a love of culinary fermentation with his stepson. He was the loudest cook his family ever heard. He was brilliant. He will be deeply missed.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests those so inclined make a donation in his name to the Maryland chapter of the ACLU, (https://action.aclu.org/give/support-aclu-maryland) an organization engaged in political issues he found deeply important.
Viewing and interment will be private. A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, July 16th at 1:00 PM at the Towson Unitarian Universalist Church (towsonuuc.org) on Dulaney Valley Road in Lutherville, MD, of which he was both a member and friend for years, in July of 2022. The service will be open to the public, and livestreamed for anyone unable to attend. Details will be made available by the family on social media.