Ex-Supervisor E. Henry Kloss dies at age 75. E. Henry Kloss, a political moderate who served four terms on the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, died Wednesday at the family ranch in Franklin where he was born 75 years ago. He had been in critical condition since suffering a stroke Oct. 13 and was returned home from the hospital Sunday.
Known for his sense of humor and dedication in representing the sprawling, mostly rural 5th Supervisorial District in the southern part of the county, Mr. Kloss retired in 1979 after spending 16 years on the board. “He was a big-hearted, honest person who would go to any length to try to protect the small person from being hurt,” recalled Pat Melarkey, a Sacramento dentist who served as a county supervisor with Mr. Kloss. He first won election to the board in 1962 with the backing of a loosely knit coalition of rural and urban property owners dissatisfied with the performance of incumbent Jack Mingo.
Sacramento businessman Jack Vandenberg, who helped persuade Mr. Kloss to run, said that Mr. Kloss proved to be enormously popular. He was just the right guy at the right time for everybody. “He was just an enormously generous and compassionate guy who went out of his way to help people,” Vandenberg said. “He had no peer. “His former administrative assistant Mary “Dayo” Hagen said he was a “non-politician politician. He got things done without a lot of the political gimmickry that goes on today.” “He was very accessible,” Melarkey said. “There wasn’t anybody who couldn’t talk to him and to his credit, he never graduated to the era of fancy polls and modern politics. It was just a one-on-one deal.
“Melarkey remembered Mr. Kloss as a supervisor who “had a true feel for the land and the farmers and their problems — being pushed up against an urban area with the water table dropping and all that kind of stuff. He really felt for ’em.”Mr. Kloss also was known for displaying an even-handed approach to his job on the five-man board, where he served four one-year stints as chairman. Using a low-key approach that belied his effectiveness as one of the county’s policy makers, Mr. Kloss “was such a straight guy, he didn’t even know what a deal was,” according to Melarkey.
“For him, a deal with somebody was them buying him a beer. He never accepted any money. If he helped you, he did it because he thought you had a good cause. In his initial campaign in 1962, Mr. Kloss believed county government was spending too much money. His campaign slogan was “Stop Runaway Taxes”. As he left office, however, he acknowledged that it wasn’t as simple as it seemed. “I found out that the largest portion of county spending is mandated by the federal and state governments, Mr. Kloss told an interviewer in 1978”. “I found it was difficult to reduce taxes. It has been frustrating. The same people who want lower taxes want more services.”
Reared and educated in Sacramento County, he took pre-law courses at Sacramento Junior College, now Sacramento City College, before devoting full time to the family’s agricultural interests. He also worked as a farm credit appraiser and loan officer and was one of the organizers of the First Security Bank of Elk Grove.
Mr. Kloss was a trustee of the Elk Grove Unified School District for 21 years, a past president of the Sacramento County School Boards Association, and a member of the Elk Grove Lions Club, Elk Grove Rotary Club, Elk Grove Lodge No. 173 F&AM, Sacramento Scottish Rite Bodies, Ben Ali Temple of the Shrine, and Elk Grove Grange. He guided development of the Elk Grove softball complex which is named for him, and in 1977 was named Elk Grove Citizen of the Year.
Funeral services are scheduled for 11 AM Friday in the Land Park Chapel of Harry A. Nauman &* Son, 4041 Freeport Blvd. Private burial will follow in Franklin Cemetery. Survivors include his wife Margit Olson Kloss; sons Lynn and Jarrett Kloss, both of Franklin; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. The family requests that any contributions be sent to Shriners Hospitals for Crippled Children, 1701 19th Ave., San Francisco 94122; Ben Ali Burn Transportation Fund; or the Scottish Rite Almoners Fund. [Sacramento Bee, October 27, 1988. Submitted by Kathie Kloss Marynik. ]