Richard Allen Klein

Richard Allen Klein passed away quietly with his wife, Ellen Harris, by his side, in St. Louis, on October 2, 2026. He was 79 years old. He was preceded in death by his parents, William. O. and Marianne [Wobus] Klein, and his older brother, William O. Klein, Jr.

He had survived 10 1/2 years with Stage 4 cancer through the care of his oncologist, Dr. Benjamin Tan of Washington University School of Medicine, and Dr. Tan’s nurse coordinator, Peggy Lee. He died of cardiopulmonary failure and Parkinson’s disease. The latter had been diagnosed 10 years ago.

Dick graduated from Country Day School [MICDS], in 1965, where he played his favorite sport, baseball. He joined Sigma Nu fraternity while at Vanderbilt University School of Engineering, where he graduated in 1969. He began work at Atlas Iron Works, a structural steel engineering firm, co-founded by his grandfather, in 1922. He became owner and CEO when his father retired. He began the design and manufacture of custom structural steel mezzanines.

Dick continued his passion for sports as an avid tennis player. He loved biking in Forest Park, close to his home in Clayton. After he broke his heel, he turned his energies to his gardens, begun by Linda Landesman. To design the beds, he took landscape courses at Missouri Botanical Garden and checked out nurseries in the Midwest for his trees. Inside their home, he designed steel and glass furniture which his ironworkers built at Atlas Iron Works.

He loved traveling to Paris and the Hudson Valley. Driving over a bridge there at sunset, he remarked the vistas along the Hudson River are to landscape what Paris is to cityscape.

When Parkinson’s slowed him down, Dick watched sports from the sidelines on cable with their little dachshund, Tina Turner, glued to his side.

A wonderful husband and loving father and grandfather, Dick is survived by his wife; his sons from a prior marriage, Reid and Kenton [Jessica]; two grandsons, Kaiden of San Diego and Kemper; and his brothers Jack Klein of Pittsburgh and Gary [Malu] Klein of Merida, Mexico.

A funeral for immediate family was held earlier. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that tributes be made to Forest Park Forever or Habitat for Humanity.