Obituary of Philip Klein

Dr. Philip A. Klein, Professor Emeritus of Economics at The Pennsylvania State University, died at home in State College, PA, on March 29, 2011, following a struggle with cancer. He was 83. He devoted his life to his family, his profession, his friends, his love of music, and a passion for justice. Born in Austin, Texas, October 8, 1927, he earned his BA and MA in Economics from the University of Texas, and his PhD in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. State College had been his home since 1955, when he joined the Penn State faculty. Internationally respected as an institutional economist and an expert on business cycles, he was the author of over one hundred articles and some twenty books and monographs. He published his final book, Economics Confronts the Economy, following his retirement from Penn State,, a work guided by his belief that the role of economics was to improve the conditions of human life. In an address delivered in 1990 when the Association for Evolutionary Economics honored him with the Veblen Commons Award, he said that he was drawn to economics by "the unequal distribution of opportunity and hope" in the Texas of his youth. He was, he said, "angry at the racism I saw all around me" and "anguished at the poverty I saw." He remained convinced that such inequalities were neither natural nor inevitable, and that economics could and should address them. Dr. Klein directed his research to economic issues in a number of countries, and was a consultant to the United Nations Centre for Development Planning Projections and Policies, the Commission of the European Community, The World Bank, and the Central Bank of Jordan. He also served on the Senior Research Staff of the National Bureau of Economic Research, as Research Associate at the Center for International Business Cycle Research at Columbia University, Adjunct Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and Senior Research Scholar at the Economic Cycle Research Institute. He was awarded multiple Fulbright Fellowships through which he taught in France, Yugoslavia, and Italy. H also taught as a visiting scholar at the London School of Economics, served as Visiting Professor at the University of Burundi through the USIA Exchange Program between the University of Burundi and Penn State, and lectured at the Central Statistical Bureau in Beijing, China. Following his retirement, Phil Klein turned his research skills to a project that combined his concern for oppressed peoples with his love of music. A loyal member of the State College Choral Society's bass section since 1977, he researched music about the experiences of European Jewry during World War II, and in response to his vision, the SCCS for the first time commissioned a full-length choral work in 2004. He was enormously proud of the product, Voices of the Holocaust. Dr. Klein researched the music, selected the songs, and the accompaniment and presentation for each song, and found the composer, Sheridan Sheyfried, who was commissioned to arrange the work. Voices of the Holocaust premiered in State College November 14, 2004. That performance was dedicated to the memory of his wife, Peggy Klein, who died earlier that year. Since that time, the Choral Society has recorded the work and has performed it several more times, twice in South America. A performance is scheduled for November 6 at Goucher College in Baltimore. Philip and Margaret (Peggy) Klein met at Penn State, where she worked as a university librarian. They married in 1961. He is survived by their children, Kathleen (Kate) Monico Klein and Alan Klein; by his daughter-in-law Michelle Klein; by three grandchildren, Justine Jones, Maya Monico Klein Minnick, and David Klein; by his sister, Dr. Grace Jameson; his sister-in-law Barbara Klein; and by six nieces and nephews and eight grand-nieces and nephews. A memorial service for Dr. Klein will be held Saturday April 16 at 4pm at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 780 Waupelani Drive, State College. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations to the State College Choral Society for the Voices of the Holocaust Memorial Concert. Arrangements are under the care of Koch Funeral Home. Online condolences may be made at www.kochfuneralhome.com.