David Charles Klein

David and I met over 25 years ago when we were both members of the Association of the Bar’s Judiciary Committee – a group of lawyers that reviews the qualifications of candidates for judicial office. I was attracted by David’s intelligence, fairness, and perceptiveness about the candidates. Additionally, I loved his colorful argyle socks which stood in great contrast to the black and navy socks worn by the other committee members. It was apparent David was someone who would do it his way –...

It’s customary to apologize for the tears we shed; or at least to make a concerted effort to fight back those tears when we reflect on the passing of someone we love. But anyone who knew David knows how appalling he would find any such effort or apology. David would be so pleased to learn that we were bawling on the news of his passing. He would call it ‘a weeper’ – that was his expression. To designate an event as a weeper for David would be high praise even though any expression of...

Here are the bare facts of David’s life. He was born October 7 1919. He was a lifelong resident of New York City, being born and raised in the city and spending most of his adult life here. He was an undergraduate at Cornell. He served in WWII, earning a number of military decorations, including the Silver Star. After the war, or as he invariably called it “the Great Unpleasantness, he attended NYU Law School. He worked for a while at a law firm, where he quickly discovered that the...

After returning from France recently, I was very sad to learn about the death of David. I remember him as a man of great compassion who also understood your problems and try to help you emotionally to deal with them. I remember his great sense of humor and great advice. I shall miss him.

I first met Mr. Klein when I was a teenager, and as I grew older calling him Mr. Klein was a sign of respect. He was already my mother's accountant when I first met him and I am sure she asked him if he would do my taxes that year. As you can imagine I had a very simple tax return back then and was still very grateful to Mr. Klein for his help and his services in filing it. I don't even think he charged me. His only caveat was that, if I felt his work merited it, I come back to him as a...

I met David a few years ago through a common friend. He must have been secretly amused by my bewildered expression the first few times he sprang his jokes on me. I did not know how to react, what to say, whether to say anything, or remain silent. But I quickly fell in love with his sense of humor and his passion for funny objects. My bewilderment was transformed into a game we enjoyed playing at dinner parties and on other occasions. In the years we have known each other, he has always been a...

To say that David Klein was one of a kind is to state the obvious. The number of wrist watches and rubber bands alone was enough to indicate that here was someone beyond the fringe. A novelist academic friend of mine went to ask him for help on my advice. He came back in awe. The first ten minutes gave me material for several short stories, he said. David's usual humorous comment after a typically chaotic display of mismanaged record keeping: "One more victory like that and we're done for"...

Counsellor, neighbor, squash partner, moral compass, surrogate father and best pal. David has provided surprises continually for the 30 odd years I’ve known him and he has done so now. For probably the first time in 25 years of marriage, he has followed Judy’s instructions, as he now surely flies with the angels.

I was introduced to David by Ernie L who told me that David does the taxes of "all the philosophers in New York." This turned out to be almost true and probably due to his being something of a philosopher himself. As many people commented he did much more than taxes. He was an essential advisor to me in difficult times and in many ways was a surrogate father. He never could get me to get my taxes done by April 15 but he did help with many thing from getting my wife a visa to...