Peter Klein: 2017 Larry Kushnick Memorial Award Recipient

By Janee Law
jlaw@longislandergroup.com

Peter Klein’s life changed forever when he met Claire Friedlander, a big-time client who in the late ’80s gave the then-struggling young broker a chance, and later set him on a path of continued philanthropic work.

“Claire became one of my more prominent clients,” Klein, CFA, CRPS, CAP, said.

For the next 20 years, he worked with Friedlander, a Holocaust survivor who emigrated from Poland, to distribute her money among good causes.

“I’d make meetings for her, sit in and listen,” Klein said. “I realized afterwards when she passed away that I was being groomed to be her legacy agent.”

Klein, the 2017 recipient of the Larry Kushnick Memorial Award for Community Service, continued down the philanthropic path, founding the Claire Friedlander Family Foundation in 2008, and serving as its president and treasurer ever since.

The foundation uses funds from Friedlander’s estate to support and invest in local nonprofits via grants and offering guidance on how be more effective. It started distributing grants in 2012 after Friedlander’s estate was settled, Klein said.

“It’s a wonderful privilege, a weighty responsibility and a lot of work, but I think she’s smiling down from above,” said Klein, also founder of Melville-based Klein Wealth Management at HighTower Advisors.

The Friedlander Foundation has worked with small, local nonprofits and organizations, including Splashes of Hope, The Tilles Center for Performing Arts, Huntington Hospital and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

CSH Labs Senior Director of Philanthropy Diane Fagiola said Klein is “always thinking about how he can help,” adding that he’s helped the laboratory a great deal, including by connecting lab officials with “people who could be helpful.”

“I enjoy making a difference,” Klein said.

He also enjoys putting in the work to make that happen, a trait he first adopted as a young man.

The oldest of three sons, Klein moved to Queens at age 6 to live with his grandparents, Rose and Sid Ackerman, after his mother died. He worked for his grandparents’ dry cleaning business, learning the value of hard work.

“When you’re raised by your grandparents, that generation gap becomes a Grand Canyon,” he said. “But the values, the hard work and the old-fashioned value system that they instilled was really important to me growing up."

Now living in Huntington, Klein has instilled the same values in his three children, Courtney, 23, Kelly, 21, and Jack, 15.

Kelly recalled how when she was growing up her father would share stories about his first job.

“He’s very self-made and that’s something that I admire a lot about him,” Kelly said. “It’s really impressive that he works so hard and he gives back.

“That’s huge for me and it’s something he’s instilled in us from a very young age.”

Throughout his life, Klein’s been a volunteer for causes and organizations like JDRF Juvenile Diabetes Walk and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Long Island.

He, Kelly and Courtney started helping out through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Long Island around 18 years ago.

Klein said, “Right before Christmas, we would go and pick up these boxes of food and toys at a warehouse and they would give us assignments on where to deliver them.

“It was heartwarming, rewarding and the kids loved it. We’ve done it ever since.”

He also shares his passion for philanthropy with his wife, Irene, whom he met and fell in love with at college.

Irene, vice president of the Friedlander Foundation, said her husband is focused on keeping the mission going and making a difference. He’s always thinking of ways to do that, she said, adding that he’s a tremendous thinker.

“He never stops thinking, never stops coming up with new ways to do anything, whether its personally, philanthropically or professionally,” Irene said. “His brain never shuts off, but at the same time he is always thinking about us.”

Klein has also always looked for ways to help.

Back in 1983, after graduating from Bronx High School of Science, he had aspirations to be a doctor and enrolled at Stony Brook University.

He ultimately pursued a different path, economics, but found a way to feed his passion to help by becoming an analyst.

After graduating in 1987 from Stony Brook with a bachelor’s degree, he went on to earn an MBA in finance from CUNY Baruch College in 1995, and then secured his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1999.

From there, Klein worked for Lehman Brothers firm in New York City, but left in 1994 to join Melville-based Paine Webber, predecessor of the UBS firm. In 2013, Klein remained in the Melville corridor, but decided to become independent.

He’s typically tasked with balancing his professional and philanthropic work.

Foundation work, whether it’s studying grant applications or attending board meetings, is saved for weekends.

He also makes time for the Huntington Library Foundation, which he chairs. HLF raises funds for projects at both the Main and Huntington Station branches of the library.

Klein is also chairman of The Tilles Center for Performing Arts Council of Overseers in Brookville, through which he supports art education for students whose schools are without art programs.

Shannon Preston, director of advancement at the Tilles Center, who has worked with Klein for a year, said she’s been honored to work alongside and learn from him.

“He’s extremely personable, he’s warm and friendly,” Preston said. “He’s an inspiration to everyone and you can see it in their faces when he speaks to them about various programs that Tilles is doing and starting and the amazing changes that have come about.”

Preston, of Port Washington, added, “He’s one of those guys who, once he starts talking, you want to listen to and you want to get behind the vision he sees.”

Klein also served on several boards, including those of The Holocaust & Tolerance Center of Nassau County, Life’s WORC/Family Center for Autism, The Dante Foundation and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Association. He also serves on HighTower’s advisory council.

Former Suffolk Legislator Steve Stern, who met Klein nearly 25 years ago when they were both starting out as young professionals and later became lifelong friends, said he couldn’t think of a person more deserving of the Larry Kushnick Memorial Award.

“It’s great to see how he has become an important leader not just in his profession and his industry but as a philanthropist,” Stern said. “He has been very effective in making sure that he has not only provided assistance to others and other organizations within our community but he has also been very effective in raising awareness for so many of us as Long Islanders, as to what is so good in our community but what also requires our attention in our community and for that Peter Klein makes us better.”

Joe Campolo, a Ronkonkoma-based attorney, similarly spoke highly of Klein, with whom he golfs, and talks about the future of Long Island and family life.

“I admire his devotion to his family and philanthropy,” Campolo said, adding that he’s known Klein for 15 years. “He’s one of the smartest guys that I know and he cares about Long Island, he cares about people and he cares about our future.”

Even when looking back at his life achievements, which have also included several authored books, accolades from various organizations and prestigious awards, including the Outstanding Philanthropic Achievement Award from the Long Island Alzheimer’s Foundation, Klein said he still has more to do.

“I treat my life as if I’m on ladder,” Klein said, adding that when each rung he moves to and stands on gets to comfortable, it’s likely about to break.

He continued, “So, either you’re going to go down a rung, or you’re going to pull yourself up

“I like the idea of pulling up.”