A Jewish Home resident with more than a passing interest in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Dr. G. Warren Kleinmaier lectured often to his fellow residents about the prophecy he believed was contained in the scrolls.
Kleinmaier died at home in San Francisco on Aug. 28. He was 79.
Born on June 3, 1923 in Grand Rapids, Mich., Kleinmaier was raised in Marion, Ohio. He obtained both his bachelor’s degree and medical degree at Ohio State University, and did his residency in pediatrics there as well. He also studied psychiatry.
He was honorably discharged as a captain from the Air Force Medical Corps.
In 1948, he had an experience in Chicago that would change the course of his life. On the shore of Lake Michigan, he had the first of many of what he called “peak experiences” in which a sense of profound peace washed over him.
“I knew with a sense of destiny that I would one day devote the rest of my life to a bridge between science and spirit,” he told the Jewish Bulletin last January.
In 1950 Kleinmaier survived an almost fatal car wreck, in which two carefully placed piles of dirt prevented his vehicle from careening off a cliff.
These experiences led him to study synchronicity, which he said “happens to people who are really following a path. It’s a strange thing, and when you’re open to it, things happen.”
In the late 1960s, Kleinmaier served as staff doctor at Camp Swig. During his career, he worked with death row inmates at San Quentin, young adults at Napa State Hospital and geriatric patients in San Francisco.
Kleinmaier believed strongly that the Dead Sea Scrolls contain a prophecy. A portion of the scrolls alludes to a war between the forces of good and evil that would eventually involve the entire world, he believed.
The conclusion of that war would result in a Third Temple built on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, he believed, but it would be a universal temple, for all peoples and religions.
“The universal temple on the Temple Mount, by its process of birth and by its very existence in the world, will serve as a reminder, and elevate world consciousness of the constant real and living presence in our lives of the creator of heaven and earth, will save civilization from the destruction it is otherwise heading for, and bring upon mankind transformation and multiple blessings beyond imagination,” he said.
“He was ahead of his time,” said Congregation Sherith Israel’s Cantor Martin Feldman, who knew Kleinmaier for many years.
Speaking on behalf of his three siblings, Kleinmaier’s son, Marc, said, “Our father created a very rich environment for us growing up and instilled in us a deep love of God, Judaism, spirituality, music and nature. He taught us the importance of standing up for what you believe in and showed us what it means to truly give from the heart.”
Kleinmaier is survived by his daughters, Shoshana Kimmelman of Santa Rosa, Cynthia Craft of San Bruno and Judith Maier of San Jose; son Marc Kleinmaier of Sunnyvale; and seven grandchildren.
Donations in his memory can be made to the Jewish Home, 302 Silver Ave., S.F., CA 94112, or Sinai Memorial Chapel, 1501 Divisadero St., S.F., CA 94115.