Mark Klempner Obituary

Name: Funeral service for Mark Klempner
Start: 2019-03-10T15:00:00.000Z
Location: Levine Memorial Chapel Inc

Mark Klempner

Greenfield, MA - Mark Theodore Klempner was pronounced dead on March 3, 2019, after a fall at the Mt. Toby Nature Preserve in Sunderland, MA. He lived at 136 Conway St. in Greenfield, MA. He was 63 years old and known as an educator, historian and social commentator. He is survived by two children, and a sister, Diane Klempner.

Mark was born in Washington D.C., raised in the Bronx, and spent his teen-age years in Schenectady, NY. He aspired to be a musician like Pete Seegar and took off across the country, busking in Boston, seeking enlightenment in a commune in San Diego and working as a studio musician in Los Angeles and later for the Walt Disney Company.

He shifted directions in the 90's, enrolling in Cornell University with a Fulbright Fellowship and graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1997. Then Mark enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he graduated with a Masters in Folklore in 2000. There he began a project to gather the oral histories of Dutch heroes who rescued Holocaust survivors fleeing from the Nazis. This culminated in the publication of "The Heart Has Reasons: Holocaust Rescuers and Their Stories of Courage" by the Pilgrim Press in 2006.

Concurrently, Mark worked as a freelance writer/editor. His work was published in the Christian Science Monitor, the Baltimore Sun and other newspapers and periodicals. He has blogged for The Huffington Post and contributed to Alternet.org and CommonDreams.org.

Mark and his wife spent a decade in Costa Rica, where their children were born. They were divorced in 2013. For several years, he taught English at the Blue Valley School in San Jose.

This year, he returned to the United States and moved to his current address in Greenfield. He was overjoyed to return to the States and quickly made many friends. His sudden death is beyond tragic.

The funeral service for Mark will be held on 11 a.m., Sunday, March 10, at the Levine Memorial Chapel at 649 Washington Avenue, Albany, 12206.

There will be a motorcade to bring Mark to his final resting place at the Temple Gates of Heaven Cemetery. That location is 2045 Watt Street, Schenectady, 12304.

Following the burial, we will sit shiva at the home of Diane Klempner, 864 Whitney Drive, Schenectady, NY.

Those who cannot attend the funeral are to join a memorial service at Congregation B'nai Israel in Northampton, MA on Wednesday, March 13, at 5:30 p.m.

If you wish to make contributions in memory of Mark Klempner, please direct them to the International Rescue Committee or to Chabad-Lubavitch. For directions or to leave a condolence message for the family, please visit, leivnememorialchapel.com

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Ithaca Journal on Mar. 9, 2019.

Memories and Condolences
for Mark Klempner

Sponsored by The Ithaca Journal.

6 Entries

March 11, 2021

He was a substitute teacher for our English class in his final weeks. We all liked him, he made an impact on us in his short time knowing us.

Mary López

March 12, 2019

Mark, in your way through this world you left untouchable traces. The son, the brother, the friend, the father ... A human being with special qualities, among them, having been an exemplary, admirable, affectionate, responsible, dedicated father, a tireless fighter for the love of his children David and Michaela. As a professional, a great scholar, hard-working, with many desires to learn; as a friend, respectful, sincere, true listener, worthy of trust, defender of justice and of what was right. A man who lived a spiritual life in a deep, loving way and under the guidance of God. He made the most of his gifts for reading, language, and especially, for his two great passions: music and writing. Now, under the divine will you have gained a place in heaven of total peace, light and infinite love: the reward for you.

Les Golden

March 10, 2019

Professor James McConkey at Cornell, with whom I speak frequently as another former student, told me today of your terrible loss. They were great friends, as you know. I hope you can find some solace knowing that his work on the Dutch who saved some of our people from the Holocaust will live on forever as a testament to Mark's love for his fellow Jews and Judaism, his compassion, and his dedication to recording the history of both those who were saved and those who saved them.

Tom Keegan

March 10, 2019

Mark and I were close friends in high school. He was heavily into music and I was into drama. I admired his freedom and easygoing attitude, especially when he would hitchhike to hang out with the Hudson River Sloop crowd of Pete Seeger and Don McClean. We lost touch but reconnected in the past few years through Facebook. Mark stayed at my house in LA on his way to a workshop with Cheryl Strayed, and then when my father was in the hospital in Costa Rica, Mark hosted me at his place. We suddenly became 16 again, playing the guitar and singing together, and reading poetry until all hours. Last year we met up near Greenfield and took a hike. We would talk by phone a few times a year, and it was always as if no time had passed. He cared passionately about his children and seemed like a caring father. My condolences to Diane and David and Michaela. Happy journeys dear friend!

Charlie Doering

March 10, 2019

I lived around the corner from Mark on Trottingham from '68 - '73. He was an inspriring friend and my first guitar teacher. I'm so very sorry for our loss.

Michelle Solano

March 9, 2019

Light, you are now eternal light.

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