Sybil Klein, retired Navy analyst, restaurant owner, and volunteer, has died at 86

Sybil Klein, 86, of Willow Grove, retired Navy analyst, restaurant owner, and volunteer, died Tuesday, Dec. 13, of respiratory failure at Jefferson Abington Hospital.

Mrs. Klein became an analyst when she was 40 at the Navy’s Aviation Supply Office in Northeast Philadelphia, now the Naval Supply Systems Command Weapons System Support, and, using her natural affinity for family and friends, also served as the unofficial office mother and grandmother until she retired at 75.

Gregarious and prone to be the organizer in a group, she was especially fond of her coworkers who were born in 1959, the year she became a mother. Raising her own family and living close to her parents and in-laws, she said, was “the greatest time of my life.”

Energetic and resourceful, she, along with her husband, Robert, owned and operated a coffee shop at the Presidential City Apartments on City Avenue and later The Pantry on Sansom Street near Rittenhouse Square. Her husband made memorable sandwiches and was in charge of the kitchen in both cafés, and Mrs. Klein, talkative and friendly, ran the counter and cash register, and kept the customers engaged.

An adventurous cook in her own right, Mrs. Klein’s specialties were pot roast and Jewish apple cake. Her son Michael is a longtime food and dining reporter at The Inquirer, and her granddaughter Rachel owns Miss Rachel’s Pantry on Chadwick Street, and Mrs. Klein enjoyed being part of their many foodie experiences in Philadelphia and elsewhere.

”She was fearless in the kitchen,” her son said. “She was always trying something new.”

Mrs. Klein also volunteered as a greeter at Jeanes Hospital, now part of Temple University Hospital. “She was very social,” her son said. “She was an open book who wore her heart on her sleeve.”

Born July 31, 1936, in the West Philadelphia neighborhood of Wynnefield, Sybil Matthews graduated from Overbrook High School in 1954. She met Robert Klein in 1952 when their high school drama club staged the musical Carousel, and they married in 1956, lived in Wynnefield and Northeast Philadelphia, and had sons Michael and Alan and daughter Diane. Her husband and daughter died earlier.

In addition to her skill and interest in cooking and dining, Mrs. Klein liked to read, watch Hallmark movies, and organize reunions for her Overbrook classmates. She enjoyed corned beef specials and spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and she conducted telephone surveys while in her 30s so she could work from home after her husband died.

She took Yiddish classes when she was in her 60s to reconnect with her Jewish heritage. “She was a family person who loved that her parents and in-laws lived nearby,” her son Michael said. “She would talk to anybody and was very generous. Life was good for her when her family was around her.”

In addition to her sons, Mrs. Klein is survived by eight grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and other relatives. A brother and sister died earlier.

Services are to be at 9:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 16, at Goldstein’s Southampton, 310 Second Street Pike, Southampton, Pa. 18966.

Donations in her name may be made to the Overbrook High School Alumni Association, P.O. Box 2562, Bala Cynwyd, Pa. 19004.