San
Joaquin County
Biographies
KLEIN BROTHERS
(Sol D. & Jack)
Enterprising and energetic, Sol D.
and Jack Klein, who constitute the firm of Klein Bros. of Stockton, have made a
name for themselves through their successful operations as dealers in beans and
grain. Sol D. Klein was born in New York
on July 28, 1897, and Jack Klein, who is a native of San Francisco, was born
there on June 28, 1901. The former came
to San Francisco when four years of age with his parents, who both passed away
when the boys were still children. They
were reared in a children’s home, and thus they
deserve especial credit for the success they have made, since it has come about
entirely through their own efforts.
Sol D. Klein worked for five years
with the Guggenheim Company, dried fruit packers of San Francisco, continuing
with them until 1917, when he came to Stockton and opened a commission and
brokerage office on West Weber Avenue having as a partner his brother, George
Klein, who not long after entered the U. S. service, when America cast in her
lot with the Allies. His brother, Jack Klein,
took his place in the firm in September, 1917, but the first two years their
profits were very small. In 1919 they
concluded several big deals and in 1922 they met with wonderful success as the
following news item in a local paper will show:
“The Klein brothers, with offices on the waterfront, have done
exceptionally well this year in buying and selling beans this season and some
of their friends figure their gains around $50,000. These young men went into business early,
staked a lot of big renters on Delta lands and contracted with many growers for
their crops at about four cents a pound.
Several contracts at that figure were for lots of 10,000 to 15,000 bags
of beans and the stocks bought at four cents were sold at a good profit. The Klein brothers are the principal buyers
in the local market and sellers seek their offers before going around the
produce section. Showing the magnitude
of the business carried on by these young men who crowded to the front this
season, last week they shipped one lot of pink beans amounting to 35,000
bags.” They are the biggest dealers in
all varieties of beans raised in this district on the Stockton waterfront. In 1922 their bean exhibit at the State Fair
at Sacramento won for them the first premium on pink beans and red kidney
beans, and the second prize for Mexican red and Los Angeles white beans. The firm is a member of the San Francisco
Chamber of Commerce and Stockton Chamber of Commerce.
Sol D. Klein, who served in the U.
S. Navy during the War, is a member of Karl Ross Post, American Legion, and of
Stockton Lodge of Odd Fellows, and both brothers are members of the B’nai
B’rith.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1236. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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