Longtime Barrington Area Council of Governments director dies

If not for the foresight and ingenuity of Don Klein, the Barrington area might have far more people and far less green space.

The executive director of the Barrington Area Council of Governments for 30 years, Klein oversaw the unified struggle by several villages and townships to implement planning and environmental policies aimed at preserving the 90-square-mile area.

The longtime Barrington resident died Friday while working in his garden. He was 79.

"This region owes Don a debt of gratitude for his work," said Janet Agnoletti, who in 2000 succeeded Klein as BACOG executive director. "He worked with governmental leaders to help shape the region into what it is, which is countryside communities uninterrupted by suburban sprawl and strip malls."

Born on Oct. 15, 1930, in Milwaukee, Klein graduated with a journalism degree from Marquette University, where he worked to desegregate student housing. Before that, he spent four months in the seminary studying to become a Catholic priest and joined the Catholic Worker Movement founded by Dorothy Day in New York City's Bowery neighborhood, serving the homeless.

Klein's next professional move was to Chicago's Near South Side, where he managed the 2,000-unit Lake Meadows housing development. More than 6,000 people lived in what was then the nation's largest integrated housing project, including jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis and Chicago Bears player Willie Galimore.

He also taught at DePaul University and earned his Ph.D. in sociology.

Race riots broke out in the mid- and late-1960s, creating an environment Klein described as "battle line status" in a 1988 interview with the Daily Herald. In 1967, he moved his family to South Barrington and commuted to the city until BACOG formed in 1970.

Klein's former wife, Vicki, said his work with BACOG became his passion.

"He was committed to preserving the Barrington area for future generations, including his own children," Vicki said.

At home, Klein was an avid fisherman who took frequent fishing trips and built up a collection of hundreds of fishing poles. He was also an intellectual who at times read up to six books a week, Vicki said. Then there was his gardening. Klein planted pear and plum trees over the summer and maintained droves of perennials.

In addition to Vicki, Klein is survived by five children, a sister and his dog, Lucy.

Visitation will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 27, at the Davenport Family Funeral Home, 149 W. Main St., Barrington. The funeral Mass and burial will be private.