Stewart Klein

Stewart (Stew) Klein, 78, of Westlake Village, CA, died peacefully at home on October 28, 2022, surrounded by his loving wife, children, and his devoted caregiver of recent months. Although his health had declined over an eight-year period due to Parkinson’s disease and the residual long-term effects of earlier radiation treatments, he was very grateful for the many healthy and abundant years he lived post cancer and a quintuple bypass.

Stew was born on December 17, 1943, in NJ and was the only child of Dr. Julius and Mrs. Charlotte Mary Klein. As an only child of older parents, Stew had nothing but wonderful memories of his idyllic childhood, with a father who ran his medical practice out of a home office and a mother who doted on Stew. The biggest tragedy in Stew’s life was that his father died when he was only 20 years old.

Stew graduated from Emerson High School in Union City, NJ and later attended Ithaca College (NY), where he met life-long friends and graduated in 1967 with high honors. A few days after his graduation, Stew married his fiancé Patricia Ann Garvin on May 27, 1967, in St. Patrick’s Church in Huntington, NY. Four years prior to their wedding, the newlyweds met working at the Manufacturers Hanover Bank in the Time Life building in Manhattan.

Stew’s first banking job out of college was at the Irving Trust Company. Within the first two years of his job, he earned an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Hackensack, New Jersey. While living in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, Stew and Pat became parents on September 14, 1970, to daughter Tara Elizabeth Klein, and again on December 20, 1972, to Garvin Stewart Klein whose natural birth was recorded and broadcast on the live television show, “People Places Things.”

In 1973, Stew and his family moved to a South Brunswick, NJ, where Stew commuted by train to work, met amazing friends, played tennis, planted vegetables, was an Indian Princess’s Chief, and chased the family’s first dog “Tulip.” In 1977, a job promotion and transfer to the Los Angeles office of Irving Trust landed Stew and family in Westlake Village.

Although Stew worried about the stability of the banking industry, he managed to dodge every bank layoff and humbly advanced in the ranks at Irving Trust Company, First of Chicago, City National Bank, and First of Chicago (Part Two, which become Bank of Detroit, then Bank One). Stew was a great boss and took pride in the success of his employees. He worked tirelessly, never complained about his commute from Westlake Village to Downtown LA, and in the last years of his banking career, he became the oldest team member in senior management at Bank One. While living in the heart of Chicago for his job at Bank One, Stew enjoyed regular visits from his wife, children, and family friends. When JP Morgan took over Bank One, Stew decided to retire and returned to Westlake Village.

During the height of his retirement, Stew could be found on one of the local golf courses, tennis courts, or traveling to Georgia, then Ohio to see his son and daughter-in-law Jennifer and their three kids. He took his grandpa duties seriously and couldn’t spend enough time with his grandchildren.

As his health started to slow him down, he hit the grandparent lottery when his grandchildren moved to the same neighborhood in Westlake Village. Stew spent his remaining healthy years doing school pick-ups, soccer drops-offs, and movie dates, etc.

Eventually, two neck/spine surgeries and a Parkinson’s diagnosis drastically hindered Stew’s physical activity level. With his mind and dry sense of humor intact, he held court in his home where his, children, grandchildren, extended family members, and friends would visit often. His last social outing was to his daughter’s wedding on December 22, 2021, at Sherwood Country Club. At the wedding, he was briefly reunited with some of his best friends, nieces, and nephews for the first time since the pandemic’s inception.

After an extended, complicated COVID-19 hospital stay in August 2022, Stew returned home, where he had full-time care and ultimately, hospice care.

Stew will be remembered as a loving son, husband, father, grandpa, uncle, father-in-law, and friend. He also will be remembered for his devotion to his family, work ethic, love of tennis, intelligence, dry sense of humor, financial practicality, integrity, and humble nature. He wrote and delivered the best toasts, roasts, and speeches, and was loved and respected by everyone.

Stew is survived by his wife Patricia Garvin Klein; daughter Tara Klein Nordyke; son Garvin Klein; grandchildren Ava Klein (16), Charlotte Klein (14), and Christian Klein (13); and by his daughter-in-law Jennifer Frost Klein and son-in-law Ryan Young Nordyke.