Lena Klein; Longtime Valley Resident

Lena Klein, a 30-year San Fernando Valley resident and grandmother of Jeffrey S. Klein, president of The Times Valley Edition, has died at a Granada Hills hospital. She was 90.

Mrs. Klein, a resident of Woodland Hills, died Sunday after suffering a stroke at a family Hanukkah celebration, Klein said.

Born Lena Pemstein in Worcester, Mass., she settled in Los Angeles with her mother Hattie in 1916 after a childhood bout with pneumonia. After several years as a cashier in a downtown drugstore, she met and married David Klein in 1926 and moved to West Los Angeles.

In 1932, the Kleins opened a family grocery store in Los Angeles, which they operated for 20 years. David Klein died in 1962.

Mrs. Klein was active for several decades in a charity she helped create. Called “The Helpful 18” and created during an era of few governmental social services, the charity was made up of 18 women who met monthly to raise money for needy families.

In addition, her grandson recalled, she was an avid and successful stock speculator.

“She was also pretty good at handicapping the horses,” Klein said.

In a videotaped reminiscence taped in 1983, Mrs. Klein observed that “life is beautiful if you look at it in a beautiful way. You should take each day as it comes, with beauty in it and love for everybody.”

In addition to her grandson Jeffrey, Mrs. Klein is survived by a son, Norman Klein of Malibu; a daughter, Marlene Zinkow of Playa Del Rey; a brother, Sam Pemstein of Fullerton; six other grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.

A funeral will be held at 2 p.m. today at Hillside Mortuary, 6001 W. Centinela Ave., Los Angeles. Burial will follow at Hillside Memorial Park.