Deceased Member  

The clinical microbiology community of North Carolina has lost one of its stalwart members with the passing of Dolph Klein on 30 January 2010 in Durham, N.C. For 30 years, Dolph was at Duke University first as the Director of Clinical Microbiology at Duke University Medical Center and later as an Associate Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology retiring in 2004. I got to know Dolph during my postdoctoral fellowship at UNC during our monthly Carolina Clinical Microbiologists sessions. The Carolina Clinical Microbiologists group was central to my development as a clinical microbiologist. From Dolph, I learned a great deal of how to interact with people and the importance of treating people with kindness and respect something this kind, quiet man always did. During my postdoctoral time, Dolph was faced with a tragic personal event in his laboratory. I was very impressed and later grateful for his willingness to teach me how he dealt with an event that as a young man I couldn't imagine having to face. Sadly I too have had to endure such a tragedy professionally. His long-ago lessons were a comfort in difficult times.  

Klein was born in 1928. He graduated from the City College of New York in biochemistry and then received his Ph.D. in microbiology from Rutgers University, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Purdue University. From there he was at the University of Minnesota, serving as Assistant Professor in the Biochemistry Department in St. Paul 1967-72 and then Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology in Minneapolis 1972-74, where he taught biochemistry and microbiology to the graduate students and was also Director of the Master's Degree in Medical Microbiology.  

Dolph was married 49 years to Naomi Keller, who passed away in 2006. He is survived by one brother, Bernard Klein and by four children and six grandchildren- Michael; Laurence; Robert, who is married to Sarah Kashin and whose children are Dov, Yaakov, Shifra, and Azriel; and Steven who is married to Rivka de Graaf and whose children are Gefen and Noad.  

Peter Gilligan  
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill