Robert Nicholas "Bob" Klein II is a
stem cell
In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type o ...
advocate. He initiated California
Proposition 71, which succeeded in establishing the
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) was created in 2004 after 59% of California voters approved California Proposition 71: the Research and Cures Initiative, which allocated $3 billion to fund stem cell research in California ...
, of which Klein was the chairman of the governing board.
Before getting involved in stem cell advocacy, he was a
housing developer and lawyer. He lives in
Portola Valley, California and works in
Palo Alto, where he used to live.
Stem cell advocacy
He was a chief author of Proposition 71 and was the chair of the Yes on 71 campaign. He donated $3 million to the cause, the largest donation, and ran the campaign from the Klein Financial Corporation.
After the election, Proposition 71 became
Article XXXV of the California Constitution and the Yes on 71 campaign became the California Research and Cures Coalition, a stem cell advocacy organization. Klein was the head of that organization until he took the position at the
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) was created in 2004 after 59% of California voters approved California Proposition 71: the Research and Cures Initiative, which allocated $3 billion to fund stem cell research in California ...
, the organization created by the ballot initiative. In 2005, he was named as one o
TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People and, that same year ''Scientific American'' named Klein one of “The Scientific American 50” as a leader shaping the future of science. Klein was honored at the 2010
BIO International Convention as the second annual Biotech Humanitarian. Also, in 2010, Klein received the 2010 Research!America Gordon and Llura Gund Leadership Award for his advocacy of stem cell and diabetes research.
In 2020, the original funding for the Institute for Regenerative Medicine had run out, so Klein spearheaded another initiative to fund it, known as
Proposition 14.
Early career
Klein has a Bachelor of Arts in History with Honors from Stanford University and a Juris Doctor from Stanford University Law School, 1970. Additional education includes: Executive Summer Finance Program at Stanford University Business School and an internship with the United Nations Economic and Social Council in Switzerland on Economic Development Policy.
Soon after graduating law school, he joined the firm of
William Glikbarg, a Southern California housing developer who also taught housing law at Stanford.
He made his multimillion-dollar fortune primarily in the Modesto area, of the Central Valley, CA, developing
low-income housing
Subsidized housing is government sponsored economic assistance aimed towards alleviating housing costs and expenses for impoverished people with low to moderate incomes. In the United States, subsidized housing is often called "affordable housin ...
. He included market-rate units within subsidized projects to help generate financing for projects.
When
Nixon administration housing secretary
George W. Romney ended public housing subsidies in January 1973, Klein and an associate,
Michael J. BeVier, successfully persuaded the California legislature to create the
California Housing Finance Agency
The California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA), established in 1975, is an independent California state agency within the California Department of Housing and Community Development that makes low-rate housing loans through the sale of taxable and ...
, which subsidizes housing developments with low-interest bonds. (Klein did not use CHFA money in his real estate deals to eliminate the potential for a conflict of interest.) BeVier wrote about this in the book "Politics Backstage."
Personal life
Robert lives in Portola Valley with his wife Danielle Guttman Klein, as well as her daughter Alyssa. He has two sons and a daughter: Robert, Jordan, and Lauren. Lauren and her husband, Daryl Baltazar have one son named Bennett. Robert cites his son Jordan's autoimmune-mediated (type 1) diabetes as a primary source of his involvement in stem cell research.
Klein's father
Robert Klein Sr. (
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
,
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
) was an administrator of
San Jose,
Fresno,
Santa Cruz and
Menlo Park..
See also
*
Proposition 71
*
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) was created in 2004 after 59% of California voters approved California Proposition 71: the Research and Cures Initiative, which allocated $3 billion to fund stem cell research in California ...
References
External links
Bob Klein Public Policy ProfileKlein Financial CorporationCalifornia Institute for Regenerative Medicine homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Robert N., II
Stem cell research
Living people
People from Portola Valley, California
American health activists
Year of birth missing (living people)