- Date Of Birth: November 13, 1937
- Date Of Death: October 15, 2021
- State: Indiana
Stanley F. Klein, 83, recent inhabitant of West Lafayette, lifelong New Yorker, passed away on Friday, October 15, 2021 at University Place in West Lafayette. He and his wife, Norma Harris Klein, who survives him, had moved to West Lafayette from Staten Island in February 2020 to be closer to their grandchildren. Fittingly, the move occurred on Valentine’s Day, underscoring their nearly 52 years of marriage.
He was born November 13, 1937, in Bronx, NY, to the late Samuel and Lena (Landman) Klein. As a child, he loved creating board games with his friends in their apartment building, working on baseball statistics, and coming home from school to eat his mom’s egg salad sandwiches during lunch break.
Stanley graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York, to which he commuted by subway from the Bronx. He learned to play bridge with friends around this time and became masterful at it. Bridge became a lifelong passion.
After only two dates, he proposed to Norma Harris. It was in July, on her birthday. They married each other on November 22, 1969 in Manhattan. Theirs is a love story.
Stanley worked as an office clerk for several advertising agencies in New Jersey and New York. For many years, he rode the Staten Island Ferry into Manhattan to his job at the agency. Later, he enjoyed riding the express bus into the City, working on crossword puzzles, or reading detective novels while he watched the scenery. He was an expert navigator.
He was an avid fan of Broadway musicals and had a collection of reel-to-reel tapes, and records, of his favorite shows. Above all, he loved Man of La Mancha. Stanley and Norma danced to “The Impossible Dream” as the first dance at their wedding. His eyes welled up with tears when he listened to the song “You have to be taught” from South Pacific. He believed that most people were good, and was frustrated when they didn’t behave accordingly. He taught his two daughters that the most important thing in life is to be a good person.
Stanley is survived, along with his wife Norma, by his daughters Rebekah Klein-Pejšová (husband Stanislav Pejša) of West Lafayette, Hillary Butler (husband Robert Butler Jr.) of Staten Island, NY, his granddaughters Zora and Milena Pejšová. Also surviving is his older brother Robert Klein of Tuckahoe, NY.