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Janet Klein, 96, of Rydal<\/a>, Montgomery County<\/a>, former member of the Philadelphia Historical Commission, historic program director for the Fairmount<\/a> Park Commission, regional project coordinator for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, chair of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, volunteer, and philanthropist, died Tuesday, Aug. 4, of age-associated decline at her home.<\/p>\n Born in Philadelphia, Mrs. Klein earned degrees at Philadelphia High School for Girls and the University of Pennsylvania<\/a>. She and her husband, Lewis, traveled the world after they married in 1952, and she told The Inquirer in 1973 that she became interested in local historic preservation after returning from abroad in 1964.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt something was lacking here,\u201d she said. \u201cThere was no pride nor a thorough knowledge of what we really have in Philadelphia to share with visitors.\u201d<\/p>\n So she joined the Philadelphia Museum of Art<\/a>\u2019s tour guide program, rose to chair of guides for the Fairmount Park house tours, and conducted hundreds of tours for thousands of visitors to the eight historic houses in the park. \u201cThe guides,\u201d she said in 1973, \u201ccan\u2019t help but sense that somehow they have passed on to the visitors the continuing life of historic Philadelphia.\u201d<\/p>\n Eventually, Mrs. Klein became historic program director for the Fairmount Park Commission, was appointed to the Philadelphia Historical Commission by then Mayor Wilson Goode in the 1980s, and served as chair of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission from 1997 to 2003. Friends called her \u201cformidable\u201d and compared her to the Energizer Bunny.<\/p>\n Keen to spark public interest in historic sites, Mrs. Klein forged partnerships between site officials and schools, community groups, businesses, and the media. In 1997, she oversaw filmmakers as they shot scenes for the movie Beloved at the Landis Valley Museum in Manheim Township.<\/p>\n \u201cI think what gets to me is that these people would have never dreamed that we would be looking at this, this record of their lives, so many years later.\u201d <\/p>\n Mrs. Klein on preserving old personal diaries and business ledgers <\/p>\n She appeared often in The Inquirer and said in 1989: \u201cWe often find that people who live just around the corner from a house museum don\u2019t know it existed.\u201d <\/p>\n At Fairmount Park, she redefined the commission\u2019s operating procedures and enlisted students as volunteers at its public mansions. At the city historical commission, she led walking tours of Old City<\/a> and helped determine the historic designation of the old Lit Brothers building, the Boyd Theater, the Dilworth house, and other significant structures. <\/p>\n With the state historical and museum commission, she erected historical markers across the state, helped designate the Museum of Art as a Commonwealth treasure in 2002, and directed the commission\u2019s public relations, tourist promotions, and preservation efforts. <\/p>\n \u201cHistory doesn\u2019t have to be dead,\u201d she said in 1998. \u201cHistorical markers represent the people and their interests. They are a way for young people to learn about their heritage and gain a personal respect for the past.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s really remarkable is how open people are with their aspirations and dreams for the museums. People aren\u2019t afraid to say they love the homes they manage.\u201d<\/p>\n Mrs. Klein about being a consultant to house museum officials<\/p>\n She also led the Comprehensive Historic Assistance Program for the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the 1980s, helped create the Liberty Trail near Independence Hall, and directed the restoration of the first historic home in the Lukens National Historic District of Coatesville<\/a>.<\/p>\n She served on the board of visitors<\/a> at Temple University<\/a>\u2019s Ambler<\/a> campus and Klein College of Media and Communications, on the collections committee at the Union League, and as a guide at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware. She was active with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Museum Council of Philadelphia, and other groups.<\/p>\n She was honored for her service by the Women\u2019s Center of Montgomery County in 1999, the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia in 2001, and named a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania<\/a> in 2000. In 2018, she earned an award<\/a> for service and philanthropy from Coatesville\u2019s National Iron and Steel Heritage Museum. <\/p>\n As a philanthropist, Mrs. Klein and her husband supported what became, named after them, the Klein College at Temple, the National Association of Television Program Executives, the Police Athletic League, the American Heart Association, and other organizations dedicated to education, healthcare, youth development, and social service. They created the Janet and Lew Klein Making A Difference Award<\/a> for the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters and donated his professional papers to Temple. <\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Why did best-selling author Carol Saline email The Inquirer\u2019s obit writer?<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cShe was an inspirational community leader,\u201d said David Boardman, dean of Temple\u2019s Klein College, \u201cwho inspired others through her generosity, her brilliance, and her warmth.\u201d<\/p>\n Janet Surman was born March 3, 1930. She grew up in Oak Lane and earned a bachelor\u2019s degree at Penn. <\/p>\n She met Lewis Klein in college, and they married in 1952. They had a son, Stephen, and a daughter, Ellen, and lived in Melrose Park and Rydal. Her husband, a pioneering TV broadcaster and cofounder of Gateway Communications, died in 2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mrs. Klein and her husband traveled the world for decades and attended dozens of galas and fundraising events. She enjoyed gardening, was an avid reader, and liked to play Scrabble. <\/p>\n