ShopRite, Local Officials Mourn Andrew Klein

Andrew Klein was a trusted leader who shared his business successes with the communities his stores served.

Klein, the 65-year-old president of Klein’s Family Markets, was killed in a multicar traffic collision that also claimed the life of a 7-year-old boy on March 11 in Harford County, Md., state police said. Klein’s family-run company, founded by his grandfather in Fallston, Md., in 1925, operates nine stores under the ShopRite banner and is a member of the Keasbey, N.J.-based retail cooperative Wakefern Food Corp.

Andrew Klein; Photograph: LinkedIn

Local officials, including county and state executives, expressed shock and sadness at the news. Local reports hailed Klein as a strong supporter of several local charitable endeavors, including raising support for a hospital and other health facilities, a synagogue and the Boy Scouts, among others.

“Andy wasn’t a slick motivational speaker, but he was totally sincere, totally committed. You picked up on it and felt moved to join his causes,” Rabbi Gila Ruskin of the Temple Adas Shalom in Havre de Grace, Md., said in The Aegis newspaper. “That happened at the temple and all over the county.”

Services were set for March 13 in Owings Mills, Md. Klein is survived by his wife Jayne; daughters Rachel and Sarah; son Marshall; two brothers, Michael Klein and Howard Klein; and a granddaughter.

Klein’s ShopRites in a statement said the company was “shocked and saddened” by the accident. “Our hearts grieve with both families, and on behalf of the Klein family, we ask that the media and those seeking to express their condolences respect the family’s privacy at this time.”

Maryland State Police are investigating the accident, which they said involved a ShopRite tractor-trailer that, for unknown reasons, failed to slow or stop at an intersection on Maryland Route 24 in Bel Air, Md., hitting several other vehicles.