Mr. Klein was born and raised in New Jersey, attending college there while earning degrees in chemistry, biology and a minor in English. From there he attended graduate school to earn an MBA. His career commenced upon employment with Merck & Co. that had established its New Leads Discovery group consisting of an elite team of senior medicinal synthetic organic chemists whose sole purpose was to develop new pharmaceuticals for human and/or veterinary health care. Mr. Klein's name appeared on several patents as a contributor. From there he accepted a position to work for a boutique consulting firm in Greenwich, CT, in which he explored new business opportunities for client companies positioned in the chemicals and biochemicals industry to facilitate the development of corporate growth leading to higher sales and profits. Two years later, Mr. Klein was offered a job with a specialty chemicals manufacturer to specifically help senior managers better understand market and growth prospects in areas of commerce outside and often well outside the firm's core product markets. Mr. Klein was extremely successful in this regard, helping the company make money with new products in new markets and, by doing so, became well known to these managers as someone capable of opening new markets for the company.
One day, while in his office, Mr. Klein received a very unexpected phone call from the Manager of Human Resources of Stanford Research Institute (a major and world famous contract research consulting firm) in Menlo Park, California. Unbeknownst to him, Mr. Klein had been highly recommended to SRI by someone in industry with whom he'd previously spoken. While at SRI he conducted project work in the fields of specialty materials, specialty materials, advanced materials, high-purity metals, semiconductors and thin-film coatings among many other technical materials fields/markets for clients worldwide. Mr. Klein often had direct contact with senior managers of Fortune 500 firms as well as with senior managers of some the largest materials science companies in Europe and Japan.
Five years later, Mr. Klein received an offer to work as Director or Marketing for a multinational firm whose primary business was the mining and refining of rare and precious metals for use in demanding commercial, electronic and especially military applications. While working to further his employer's sales in the U.S., he became involved in projects dealing with secondary (rechargeable NiMH and Li-ion batteries) and primary batteries (alkaline) as well as metals (e.g., cobalt, tungsten and copper to name a few) used to put down (sputter) electron 'racetracks' of minute thickness and width on silicon chips for the construction of advanced semi-conductors, this process referred to as ion sputtering.
Retiring in 2006, Mr. Klein chose to use his long-practiced writing skills for his own pleasure. Possessing a vivid imagination, he eagerly constructed novels in the genre of Stephen King and, surprisingly, also penned Christian Thrillers for readers that enjoy eerie to adventurous stories of faith not unlike the great and classic movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, the film that inspired him to create his first novel, The Prophecy Cave. This tale (at that time on Kindle but now on B&N's website) proved so intriguing to Simon Swart, Executive Vice President of 20th Century Fox, that Simon contacted Mr. Klein to let him know the story was movie-worthy but was also of such a scale that it could cost as much as $200 million to convert to a major motion picture, an amount too much to spend at that time since the studio would have to produce box office receipts of at least $500 million to justify such a budget. The story now rests with Disney's creative development group (having acquired Fox several years ago). Sony Pictures is also aware of this novel.
Mr. Klein was married for 39 years to a British woman, Diana, who was visiting her mother in the U.S. At that time Diana worked for London couturier, Christian Dior, while her father was employed by Standard Oil. Mrs. Klein passed away in December of leukemia, leaving behind a husband and son that deeply miss her.
The author's hobbies, beyond writing, include his collection of older British sport cars that were new thirty to fifty years ago. He also enjoys video games, tropical plants, red wines, dark chocolate, stylish women, the South Seas and his best-of-house wire hair fox terrier, Tucker. Mr. Klein exercises daily and has for fifty years.
