Stephen Klein, founder and board chairman of Barton’s Candy Corporation, died yesterday at the age of 71. He was buried today in Israel. A native of Austria, where members of his family had been candy makers, Klein came to this country as a refugee in 1938 and, with his brothers and other partners, founded the company the following year.
The company, which began as a one-room factory with door-to-door sales, expanded quickly through the establishment of retail outlets, initially known as Barton’s Bonbonniere. The company, which became a public corporation in 1960, now has annual sales of $17 million and serves 3000 stores throughout the United States.
Klein was very active in Vaad Hatzala after World War II when he helped bring to America over 500 rabbis and scholars and their families, who fled the Nazis by way of Shanghai and Paris. He founded the Yeshiva University High School for Girls in Brooklyn and was also a founder and vice-president of Torah Umesorah. Klein was also a founder and officer of Chinuch Atzmai, Torah Schools for Israel. He served for many years as vice-president of the Jewish Education Committee.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
