Edward B Klein

Klein, Edward Bernard, age 85, died November 8th 2016 , survived by his partner Liz, beloved father of Laura Klein and partner Andy Goldberg and Karen(Shepard Parsons) Klein, loving grandfather of Becca, Charis, Iris and Eli, dear brother of Marilyn (Joe) Abend, former husband of Teri Klein. A memorial service will be held November 25th 10:00 in the morning at Congregation Mishkan Israel 785 Ridge Road Hamden Ct. 06517., local memorial service to be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers Memorial Contributions may be made to the Connecticut Mental Health Foundation 34 Park Street New Haven, CT. 06519 CMHCFoundation.org Edward Bernard Klein was born May 21, 1931 in Brooklyn, New York. He was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Iris and Manuel Klein who instilled in him a strong work ethic, deep sense of social justice and love of learning. As a young boy he sold penny cigarettes on the boardwalk, played baseball, learned to dance from his father and to organize from his mother who was PTO president and a community activist. He was accepted to Brooklyn Tech High School, which he credits with steering him on the path to higher education. He majored in sociology and psychology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor where he was supported by the GI bill for his army service during the Korean War. While working on his doctorate in psychology at Columbia University in New York City, he met Teri Youngman, a fellow Ann Arbor graduate. They were married across from Compo Beach in Westport, CT, where Teri’s parents lived. Ed began his career in research and clinical psychology at the Veterans’ Administration Hospital and at the Connecticut Mental Health Center (CMHC) in New Haven. CMHC was one of the first community-based mental health centers in the country. Ed was involved in The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations and The AK Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems. His scholarship, clinical work and community activities were informed by his understanding of how unconscious thoughts and feelings affect groups of all kinds, including families, workplaces and larger communities. As a professor at Yale University in the mid-1960s and early 1970s, he was immersed in the community psychology movement. He developed a social systems perspective on teaching, research, supervision, clinical work and consultation. He embraced a multi-disciplinary approach that continued throughout his career and which lead to work with diverse groups such as the New Haven Police and Black Panthers, managers and workers at every level in the corporate and non-profit world. He worked with training programs that honed organizational skills to enable people living under extreme conflict to be more effective leaders in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Ed’s research during his time at Yale focused on group and inter-group relations as well as human development across the life-span. He was an integral part of the research team lead by Daniel Levinson that explored and explained the common pattern underlying adult development. Their research on stability and transition through adult life offered a new way of thinking about growing older. In particular, the idea of transition at mid-life sparked the notion of “mid-life crisis,” which became a reference point for shifts in the popular culture. Published in 1978, The Seasons of a Man’s Life, was translated into many languages and published widely for both academic and popular audiences.

Tributes

Edward B Klein

May 21, 1931 - November 8, 2016