Memorial at Clarkson University for alumni killed on 911. Made up from beams from the World Trade Center. Peter graduated from Clarkson in 1987.
Memorial at Clarkson University for alumni killed
Monument at St. Stanislaus Church of Peter A. Klein. Located in Pleasant Valley, NY. Peter grew up and served as an altar boy in this church
Tree and plaque dedicated to Peter at St Stanislaus Church located in Pleasant Valley, NY. Peter grew up and served as an altar boy in this church
Tree and plaque dedicated to Peter at St Stanislaus Church
Quilt in Peter Klein's memory. Made by his mother Ruth Klein and sister Diana Klein
Letter of condolence from Alta & Jerry Conklin. Teacher
Letter of condolence Bonnie Ruppine Barton, friend
Letter of condolence Carol & Eamon Brennan, neighbors
Prayer card Cherry Foster, colleague & friend
Prayer card Margaret Handkamp, family friend and neighbor
Letter of condolence Judy Castro Watson, band friend
Letter of condolence Keith Brown
Letter of condolence from Lisa Keck Wendell, neighbor and childhood friend
Prayer card Margaret Handkamp, family friend & neighbor
Prayer card Marica & Remo Valdatta
Prayer card Mary Jean and Andy Reid, teacher
Letter of condolence Peg Fannelli
Letter of condolence Stephanie Eckersley Ray, Peter's immediate supervisor at MMC
Letter of condolence Troy Blakely, co-worker
Letter of condolence William Sweeney, music teacher band leader
Marsh & McLennan September 11th Memorial
New Jersey Living Memorial, A Grove of Remembrance
Empty Sky: NJ State 9/11 Memorial
Conseleya 9/11 Memorial
Dewitt 9/11 Memorial
Montclair State University 9/11 Memorial
East Newark 9/11 Memorial
Fair Haven 9/11 Memorial
Freehold Township 9/11 Living Memorial Tree Grove
Peter A. Klein died in the Sept. 11 terror attacks at age 35, practicing his trade as a computer programming consultant.
He was working at Marsh & McLennan Cos., a professional services firm in the World Trade Center on the north tower's 86th floor.
His father, Hans Klein of Salt Point, was packed and ready to fly to Europe when he got the call from Peter's wife, Lorena, after the planes struck.
"She could not get a hold of him," he said. "There was no answer."
It was 20 days of waiting before they gave up hope that he would be found alive. It was on May 1, 2002, that word came that authorities had confirmed his death.
He left behind his father; his mother, Ruth; sisters Lisa, Anne Margaret and Diana; plus aunts, uncles, a nephew, and other relatives.
Peter was born May 2, 1966. He graduated from Arlington High School in 1984, where he played in the marching band and got interested in computers. His first machine was a TRS-80. He graduated from Clarkson University in 1987. He worked for IBM Corp. and won a patent. He left to start a career in New York.
Within two months after the attacks, his father built a flagpole and began raising the banner.
"I wore out one flag already. This is my second one," he said recently.
Hans Klein learned about terror long before it took the life of his son.
Hans was only 7 and living in Serbia, Yugoslavia, when he got a taste of war at the hands of the Tito Partisans, the communists who took over during World War II.
"They came at 6 a.m. in the morning and they told us you have to go with us," he said. He and his family, who were of German descent and thus targets in Serbia wound up in a concentration camp in Molidorf for three years until one night, they escaped into Hungary. He later emigrated to America to start a new life.
Hans Klein still raises the American flag daily to the memory of Peter.
New York Times Portraits of Grief
Peter A. Klein was the antithesis of a computer geek, despite the significant role that computers played in his life. The 35-year-old computer consultant, who once worked for I.B.M. and was working on a project for Marsh & McLennan on Sept. 11, had developed a natural programming language that would "enable the average Joe to write programs," said his mother, Ruth Klein, who plans to continue her son's pursuit of a patent. He met the woman his mother calls his soul mate — his wife of just over a year, Maria Lorena Briones — over the Internet, but the courtship that blossomed once they met could not have been more romantic.
At Peter Klein's memorial service, each of his three younger sisters shared her experience of him. He was the caring older brother to Anne, a childhood playmate for Lisa, and the only one who knew how to make Diana laugh even when she didn't want to.
The disbelief that he is gone has not yet left the people who loved him, least of all his wife. "She says that they were fated to meet," Diana Klein said, recounting her sister-in-law's sense of loss. "How could it end like this?"
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