{"id":38596,"date":"2011-06-22T08:11:04","date_gmt":"2011-06-22T12:11:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=38596"},"modified":"2023-08-29T16:42:55","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T20:42:55","slug":"a-teacher-a-banker-and-an-enduring-gift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2011\/06\/a-teacher-a-banker-and-an-enduring-gift\/","title":{"rendered":"A Teacher, a Banker, and an Enduring Gift"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Carla,<\/a>
Carla, Neag’72 and John Klein (Photo provided by UConn Foundation)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a native of Bridgeport, one of Connecticut\u2019s most challenged cities, and as president and CEO of People\u2019s United Bank and its parent, People\u2019s United Financial Inc., headquartered in Bridgeport, John Klein saw the effects of poverty every day. He also saw the solution: education.<\/p>\n

People\u2019s Bank became a major engine for community betterment in Bridgeport and beyond during Klein\u2019s tenure. At the same time, his wife, Carla Klein, Neag \u201972, a longtime schoolteacher in Stratford and Trumbull, retired and continued to work in education with the Bridgeport Public Education Fund to help children stay on track for college. The couple also established the John and Carla Klein Endowment for Graduate Assistants in Teacher Education at the Neag School at UConn, and both served on the UConn Foundation\u2019s Board, among many other efforts.<\/p>\n

Then, in January 2008, at age 58, John Klein died of esophageal cancer.<\/p>\n

Carla Klein (Member, UConn Alumni Association<\/a>) mourned the loss of her high school sweetheart, but she was also determined to fulfill their shared goals. \u201cJohn was strongly an advocate for education for everyone,\u201d she says. \u201cHe was instrumental in creating the $20 million People\u2019s United Bank Community Foundation during the last merger to continue to address the needs of its community.\u201d<\/p>\n

To honor and keep John Klein\u2019s memory alive, the Klein family, including daughter Kristen Chiodo and son Eric Klein and their families, founded the Klein Family Foundation to focus their giving on areas important to them. Education had a high priority, and just recently, Carla Klein committed to a gift to the Neag School of Education to fund a termed professorship focused exclusively on urban education, with another gift over time to build an endowment for urban education.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a desire to do something,\u201d she says. \u201cI wanted to get something started, and if we do it this way we can move forward as the funds are being put into place.\u201d\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As an indication of just how influential Carla Klein had become in education reform efforts in Connecticut, then-Gov. M. Jodi Rell appointed her to the Connecticut Commission on Educational Achievement, a volunteer organization researching achievement gaps between low-income students and their more affluent peers. Her expertise, commitment and philanthropy will continue to make a difference to legions of students and teachers throughout Connecticut.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarla has been and continues to be a strong advocate for children in Connecticut,\u201d says Thomas DeFranco, dean of UConn\u2019s Neag School of Education. \u201cAs a former teacher, and more recently in her role on the Connecticut Commission on Educational Achievement, Carla is dedicated to closing the achievement gap in Connecticut. Her gift to UConn will impact the academic performance as well as the lives of children throughout the state.<\/p>\n

When donors give, the question often arises: Why this particular focus? For Carla Klein, two experiences, one in second grade, one in third, were pivotal. \u201cIn second grade, I was easily distracted, and a particular teacher didn\u2019t handle my distraction in a positive way,\u201d she remembers. \u201cShe was humiliating. I remember expressing this to my father, and he went marching into the school and it wasn\u2019t pleasant. The following year I had a new teacher, wonderful and kind, and I remember how that impacted me. Just the way the teacher approached me; I felt comfortable in the classroom. It was so much nicer to have a kind, compassionate and understanding teacher, the positive immediately following the negative.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was also a defining time for her, one that would determine her career path early on. And even though she no longer teaches in elementary school, she is testament to the power of education, giving her time and financial assistance to help.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really feel quite privileged to do it,\u201d she says. \u201cIt gives us an opportunity to honor John and his memory. He\u2019s alive with us today because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

To give to the Neag School of Education,\u00a0please contact the Foundation’s development department<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carla Klein, Neag\u201972, honors her husband\u2019s memory with gifts supporting urban education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1855],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[56],"class_list":["post-38596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-neag"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-20 06:13:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38596"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204125,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38596\/revisions\/204125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38596"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=38596"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=38596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}