The Jewish Press notes with great sadness the death, at 105 years of age, of Albert Klass, brother of the newspaper’s founding publisher, Rabbi Sholom Klass, zt”l. He was a man of wisdom and erudition, humility and dignity, with grace and a great sense of style. He had an infectious and ingratiating smile and greeted everyone with respect.
Though he made friends easily, his casual manner masked a sharp business acumen. From the beginning he shared his bother’s keen insight concerning the need in America’s Orthodox Jewish community in the latter decades of the 20th century for an authentically Jewish, English-language newspaper – one that would educate and inform and constitute a force to be reckoned with.
Indeed, in The Jewish Press’s formative years Albert was the paper’s liaison to the political world, reaching out to decision makers who thus became familiarized with our community’s special needs and its electoral clout.
Albert Klass is survived by his sister, Rivie Rosenthal, formerly a Jewish Press political cartoonist; his sons, Rabbi Yaakov Klass, The Jewish Press’s Torah editor, and Arthur Klass, its director of economic development; seven grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren.
May his memory be a blessing.