Alvin Klein (c. 1938 in

Brownsville, Brooklyn Brownsville is a residential neighborhood in eastern Brooklyn in New York City. The neighborhood is generally bordered by Crown Heights to the northwest; Bedford–Stuyvesant and Cypress Hills to the north; East New York to the east; Canarsie ...

– February 28, 2009) was a theater critic for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' for more than 15 years, publishing nearly 3,500 reviews and other articles.

Early life and education

Klein was raised in Flatbush, New York. He obtained his degree from Brooklyn College and later received his master's degree in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Career

Klein began his career as an industrial psychological and management consultant. He later taught courses in English at public schools in New York City. He covered theater for The Times from the late 1970s until September 2004. Here, he wrote for the

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, Long Island, and Westchester County sections. Prior, he worked for the radio station WNYC in 1966 where he would review and eventually worked his way up to become the opening-night theater critic until the 80s. In the 80s, he was the president of the

Drama Desk The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fol ...

, an organization that recognizes excellence in New York theater. He was also a member of the awards committee of the Lucille Lortel Foundation.

Family

He was the son of immigrants from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. He was married to his wife Janet Ginsberg Klein, who died in 2001. Together they had a son named Gideon, a daughter named Alexandria Klein Rafaeli, and three grandchildren.

Death

Klein died at the age of 73 at his home in the East VIllage section of

Manhattan, New York Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. The cause of his death was from a heart attack.

References

2009 deaths 1930s births American theater critics Brooklyn College alumni Columbia University alumni People from Brownsville, Brooklyn 20th-century American journalists American male journalists People from Flatbush, Brooklyn People from the East Village, Manhattan {{US-journalist-1930s-stub