  We present optical photometric and spectral data of the peculiar Type Ic SN
2002ap. Photometric coverage includes UBVRI bands from 2002 January 30, the day
after discovery, through 2002 December 12. There are 5 early-time spectra and 8
in the nebular phase. We determine that SN 2002ap is similar to SN 1997ef and
the GRB-associated SN 1998bw with respect to spectral and photometric
characteristics. The nebular spectra of SN 2002ap present the largest Mg I]
\lambda 4571 to [O I] \lambda \lambda 6300, 6364 ratio of any supernova spectra
yet published, suggesting that the progenitor of SN 2002ap was a highly
stripped star. Comparing the nebular spectra of SN 1985F and SN 2002ap, we
notice several similar features, casting the classification of SN 1985F as a
normal Type Ib supernova in doubt. We also present nebular modeling of SN
2002ap and find that the object ejected >~ 1.5 M_{sun} of material within the
outer velocity shell of the nebula (~5500 km/s) and synthesized ~0.09 M_{sun}
of 56Ni.
