Joseph R. Klein, of Aurora, 71, the former scout executive with the Chicago Council of the Boy Scouts of America, died Wednesday at Copley Hospital in Aurora. A native of Ontario, he came to the United States when he was 3 years old. After service in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he attended the University of Notre Dame. After graduation, he began working for the Boy Scouts. He was with the Greater New York Council from 1953 to 1962 and served as a deputy regional scout executive and then director of institutional relations for the national council in the late 1960s. In 1975, Mr. Klein served as the chief operating officer of the Chicago Council. After his retirement, the former Downers Grove resident sold insurance and then became associate director of Queen of Peace Retirement Center in Lisle, retiring from that facility in the early 1990s. Survivors include his wife, Patricia; a son, Kevin; two sisters; and two brothers. Services will be at 8:45 a.m. Friday in Blake-Lamb Funeral Home, Illinois Highway 53 and Short Street, Lisle. A mass will be said at 9:30 a.m. Friday at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, 26 N. Ellsworth St., Naperville.
