Mailbag: Remembering Victor, a Newport volunteer

When Victor Klein of Newport Beach, who succumbed to an apparent heart attack while riding his bicycle, passed away Jan. 3 — 19 days before his 83rd birthday — Newport-Mesa lost one of its most amazing volunteers.

Immediately after Victor and his wife, Barbara, moved to Newport Beach from Detroit in 1985, Victor dove into the local volunteer scene with both feet. While continuing his bicycling, bridge and tennis, he became a docent for the Orange County Museum of Art, where he guided tours every week; joined the board of Heritage Pointe, Orange County’s Jewish home for the aging; helped form University Synagogue in Irvine and continued to head its marketing efforts; and became an integral part of the Orange County Jewish Federation — among many other involvements.

Just as important, Victor was one of the finest gentlemen I ever knew. He was kind, caring and giving. He always had a smile and was always upbeat. He leaves behind his wife, to whom he was married for 60 years, a son and a daughter and four grandchildren.

Born in Philadelphia on Jan. 22, 1929, Victor had a deep love of art and enjoyed a long career in marketing with Ford Motor Co. and with Ford’s advertising agency.

All of Victor’s countless friends and the entire Orange County community will miss this lovely man.

Martin A. Brower

Corona del Mar

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Columnist should pay back rent

Maybe I should have gone to law school. In Sunday’s Daily Pilot column, “Steinberg Says,” I read that UC Irvine is offering a class of Sports and Entertainment Law. The renowned sports agent and instructor Leigh Steinberg says the first emphasis in this course will be values:

“They (students) need to be committed to ethical and fair dealings in all their transactions.”

With a career as long and storied as Steinberg’s, he will probably have a difficult time deciding where to start. Perhaps his opening lecture could begin with the recent bench warrant authorized by the Orange County Superior Court against him concerning his $1.4 million debt of unpaid rent.

Marc Herbert

Corona del Mar

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Opposing viewpoints are necessary

My letter is in response to Ron Kaye’s Jan. 5 column, “Time to restore democracy.” Kaye’s column suggests that because our congressional districts have been redrawn and we will have open primaries, this can allow two candidates from the same party to face each other in November, which is an improvement to our current system.

I can’t think of anything more harmful to our freedom and democracy than to have as your only choice in a November election two candidates with identical viewpoints running for the same office. Opposing opinions are what make this country great, whether they are from the far left, far right, or somewhere in between.

Bill Fabian

Glendale

Editor’s note: This letter was originally published in the Glendale News Press, a sister publication of the Daily Pilot.