CLEVELAND, Ohio — Robert Klein, a former New York taxi driver who went on to found Safeguard Properties LLC — the nation’s largest privately held mortgage field services company — died Thursday. He was 65.
Safeguard, based in Valley View, and Klein’s other businesses announced his death Friday. His funeral is scheduled for noon today in Beachwood.
Klein started Safeguard in 1990 and was its chief executive officer until 2010, when he handed the reins to Alan Jaffa, his son-in-law.
The company works for banks, securing and maintaining homes that are in the foreclosure process or that have been taken back by lenders.
From his office in the 200 Public Square building in downtown Cleveland, Klein stayed involved with Safeguard as its chairman; oversaw a family investment business, RIK Enterprises; and created SecureView, a clear, polycarbonate board marketed as an alternative to plywood boarding for vacant properties.
In 2013, Klein teamed up with local nonprofit organizations and Forest City Realty Trust Inc., to launch the Slavic Village Recovery Project, a home-rehab effort centered on the Cleveland neighborhood often described as “ground zero” for the foreclosure crisis.
