Donald Klein Sr.

Published 6:34 pm Thursday, January 9, 2025

GRAND RAPIDS – Don Klein died on December 22, 2024, in the arms of the cutest girl he ever met after a long battle with cancer. We are grateful he is not suffering anymore and is able to play basketball and tell bad dad jokes again. He was preceded in death by his parents, Charles & Leona Klein, and a brother, Jim Klein and is survived by his sister Carol Kerry of St. Louis.

Don was born in St. Louis, Missouri on March 2, 1936. He shared the good memories he had growing up there riding the streetcar, going to Dad’s Cookie Company, attending St. Anthony’s grade school, and playing baseball and basketball. He attended Saint Louis University High School where he excelled in both basketball and baseball, as well as academics. He then attended Rockhurst University in Kansas City on an athletic scholarship where he set the school’s season scoring record as a point guard. Upon graduating he was the 78th pick in the 1958 NBA draft selected by the St. Louis (Atlanta) Hawks and drafted by the Baltimore Orioles as a shortstop. In 1992 he was inducted into the Rockhurst University Athletic Hall of Fame. His picture still hangs in the gym and anytime his kids or grandkids are in Kansas City they make a point to stop in the gym and say hello to their Papa.

Instead of pursuing a career in sports, Don chose to continue his education at the University of Detroit earning a Master’s in Finance. He took a part time job working at nearby Marygrove College and on his first night of work he was tasked with delivering an 18th birthday cake to Julie Hartman of Mount Pleasant. After Julie’s graduation in 1962 they were married. Don continued his studies receiving a DBA, doctorate in business administration, from Michigan State University. Don was an associated professor at St. Louis University. They moved to Grand Rapids in 1973 with their 5 children where Don helped establish the Finance and Accounting graduate program at Grand Valley State College and was instrumental in its growth and expansion for the next 30 years. His former students and fellow faculty created a scholarship in his name. He was also an author, consultant for manufacturing firms, and an avid fisherman.

As a member of St. Stephen’s Catholic Church since 1973, Don was a lector, eucharistic minister, school board member and basketball coach among many other things.

Don will be greatly missed by his wife of 62 years, Julie Hartman Klein, and their children: Caroline (Mark Dillon), Donald Jr. (Elizabeth), Mary (Stephen Diesen), Doug (J’Nai), and Dan (Claire). He loved very much his 13 grandchildren who will miss his insistence that any potential suitor present his/her health certificate, financial statement, and psychological evaluation for his approval.

In lieu of flowers please consider donating to the Donald J Klein Sr. Graduate Endowed Scholarship in Accounting at Grand Valley State University, Right to Life of Michigan, or a charity of your choice.