Fred Klein once told me his favorite goal was “to help writers get their books out there and give readers book choices.” He spent 30 years in New York City as a vice president of Bantam Books as well as head of marketing and ultimately executive editor. He worked with hundreds of authors, many celebrated. After retirement in 1990, he moved to Santa Barbara for the next 30 years — but failed to retire.
My heart dropped when Klein died last Friday of cancer at age 97. Memories relive his work for community nonprofit organizations and projects, much we did together.
Klein was born and raised in Syracuse, N.Y., before moving to New York City, where he began his publishing career. When getting ready to retire in 1988, he visited his brother, Bob, in Los Angeles.
While checking out the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, he became friends with Paul Lazarus, a former vice president of Columbia Pictures and co-chair of the SBWC with founder Barnaby Conrad. After participating in the weeklong conference, Klein decided to live here.
During his days at Bantam Books, Klein worked with Richard Hunt, president of AdventureKEEN publishing and a Covington, Ky., bookstore owner.
“The book business depends on countless folks who make things, be they writers, artists, designers, etc.,” Hunt said. “But our industry also relies on people who make things happen, and that’s where Fred led the pack. Whether it was conceptualizing and carrying forward the promotion plans for new books during his days at Bantam, or later when he retired to the West Coast, Fred was a tireless organizer, advocate and go-to guy. He put everybody else first and always was the No. 1 cheerleader.”
Current NYC literary agent Paul Fedorko accepted his mentor Klein’s suggestion to support writers at SBWC during the past few years. His reacted to Klein’s death: “So sad not to have Fred hollering and yelling — in a good way! I miss him.”
Monte Schultz, owner of the SBWC and son of Peanuts cartoonist Charles M. Schultz, said he admired Klein from the beginning: “Fred was a friend of all writers and gave them writing and publishing advice, often creative. He was involved with all aspects of the conference’s directions supporting students.”
Grace Rachow, SBWC director, said: “Fred Klein was loud, opinionated, and one of the kindest souls I ever met. For all his years as ombudsman at SBWC, his focus was on helping others with their writing … at least when he wasn’t writing corny show tune parodies and singing them off key and loud. He was one of a kind, and his wise counsel will be missed.”
As a local resident, he began writing book reviews for the Santa Barbara News-Press, a New York Times paper. My job included the weekly column “InPrint.” The excellent feature editor, Melinda Johnson, worked to improve our writing.
“It’s hard letting go of our friends. But, it’s kinder to do so when they are ready to leave us,” she said. “I imagine wherever Fred is now he is already at work, organizing a writers group or staging musicals. A spirit like Fred’s is never truly extinguished.”
The News-Press in 1999 developed community projects celebrating the coming millennial century. The Santa Barbara Book and Author Festival in De la Guerra Plaza that fall quickly became popular until the paper was sold and the festival dropped. Klein talked me into co-chairing it as a community nonprofit organization along with the public library. Other literary members such as the library Executive Director Irene Macias, Borders bookstore manager Kate Schwab and author Gayle Lynds jumped in to keep the festival going. Later, it moved to the public library facility and continued to grow.
Local and out-of-town writers filled the plaza with booths to celebrate and make their works available. It fit Klein’s wish for authors to get their books out there.
“We had many good notable speakers,” he said, “with T.C. Boyle among the best. I enjoyed using a bullhorn out on State Street to encourage people to come into De la Guerra Plaza. It worked and added fun.”
Unfortunately, the book festival didn’t survive the 2008 economic recession. Klein still refused to retire.
His next step created “Literary Gumbo” on local TV channel 17 to interview authors. Not all were celebrities but “writers spreading out in our community, interesting ones who appreciated help getting the word out about their books or writing projects. That’s what they needed from me.”
After doing it for seven years with 227 author interviews, he ended by featuring Rachow, director of the SBWC, and Eric Kelly, owner of Santa Barbara’s oldest bookstore, The Book Den.
Among top-line authors he interviewed was Meg Waite Clayton, her latest “The Last Train to London.” When she and her husband/writer, Mac Clayton, heard about Klein’s death, they looked back on special times with him: “He took us under his wing when we came to Santa Barbara 20 years ago, someone loving and generous, personally and professionally We first met at one of Barnaby Conrad’s writers lunches. From the start, he was irresistible.”
Klein’s multitopic and entertaining discussions often brought writers and readers together. Mac Clayton talked about meeting up at the East Beach Grill, a popular community restaurant with children and athletes all around that overlooked the beach.
“There was no better time than the many breakfasts we had with him, Susan Gulbransen, Laird Koenig and Melody Johnson Howe,” he said. “He and Laird were so delightful in their banter that I wrote a piece about them.”
Klein served on other community projects such as Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, the Santa Barbara Foundation and a Little Free Library at 329 S. Salinas St. started in 2016. It’s still ongoing.
Klein’s life added success and pride to hundreds of lives in Syracuse, New York City, Santa Barbara and across the country. This extraordinary publisher/volunteer was a superb professional, good soul, and great friend to so many.
— Noozhawk columnist Susan Miles Gulbransen — a Santa Barbara native, writer and book reviewer — teaches writing at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and through the Santa Barbara City College Continuing Education Division. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are her own.