Marvin Kelner

MARVIN KELNER, age 79, died January 16, 2011. Beloved husband of Ileen Kelner (nee Schnider); devoted father of Paul Kelner (Denise) of Lexington, OH, David Kelner (Terry) and Matthew Kelner of CT; dear brother of Harron Kelner, the late Bernice Glasser and the late Eleanor Slobin; loving grandfather of Max, Nick, Joe, Danielle and Dylan. Services will be held at BERKOWITZ-KUMIN-BOOKATZ MEMORIAL CHAPEL, 1985 S. TAYLOR RD., CLEVELAND HTS., Wednesday, January 19 at 12 noon. Interment Mt. Olive Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the Kelner residence, 25032 Maidstone Ln., Beachwood WEDNESDAY UNTIL 9 PM, THURSDAY FROM 2 TO 4 AND 7 TO 9 PM AND FRIDAY FROM 2 TO 4 PM. Contributions are suggested to the Cantor Sarah Sager Music Fund, c/o Fairmount Temple, the Beachwood Arts Council or Hospice of the Western Reserve.

Arrangements under the direction of Berkowitz-Kumin-Bookatz, Cleveland Heights, OH.

Marvin Kelner was born in the Bronx. The youngest of four children and the only male child of Joseph Kelner. His family moved to Cleveland in the early 1940’s and he attended Glenville High School. After graduation from high school, he attended The Ohio State University. At OSU, he majored in accounting and became a member of Phi Epsilon Pi, a Jewish fraternity that later became part of Zeta Beta Tau – which is still represented at OSU. At OSU, he was a devout Buckeye fan and tutored several of the Buckeye football players. Also while at OSU, he was fixed up with Ileen Schnider, whom he married and shared his life with until his death. After graduating from Cleveland Marshall Law School, he joined the partnership of Benesch Friedlander Coplan and Arnoff – at the time there were only eight lawyer / partners. For several decades thereafter, he held the role of senior corporate tax attorney. He was driven and dedicated to his profession. During the later years of his practice – the same ‘all or nothing’ drive was channeled into an eclectic collection of interests. These included Apple Computers (an obsession), salt-water fish, model trains, photography and technology of all kinds. If there was a new gadget developed – he had it before you saw it in the stores. During his later years, you only had to look in three possible places to find him – in front of his ‘new’ Macintosh computer, watching the discovery channel in HD or playing golf. Although his occupation demanded a significant amount of his time, he was father to three sons and indoctrinated them at early age to the Cleveland Browns (we are still trying to forgive him for this…), James Bond and computers. He always had the ‘coolest’ car he could get his hands on – and when his sons were old enough to drive – he would let us ….look at them! Although he was not fond of intimate father – son discussions, through his example we learned about the importance of hard work, the joy in maintaining a sense of wonder and a constant thirst for knowledge and the fact that respect is not something that is given to you…but something that you must earn. Through it all, those who knew him well would readily admit that he was not an easy man to get to know and be close with…but for those who were able to get past the tough exterior and experience the honorable, intelligent and loving man inside – it was never boring and always worth it….