The KISS member's wife, Shannon Tweed, confirms the passing of Florence Klein, and describes her as 'the best grandma and mother in law I could ask for.'
- Dec 7, 2018
AceShowbiz - Rocker Gene Simmons' mother has died.
Florence Klein's death was confirmed on Facebook by the KISS star's wife Shannon Tweed.
"Rest in peace my dear Flora," she wrote. "The best grandma and mother in law I could ask for. You were loved and you will be missed."
Klein, a Hungarian Jew who survived the Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust with her brother, raised Gene as a single mum when his father walked out on the family when the future rock star was six.
Earlier this year, Gene paid tribute to his mum in a Sydney Morning Herald interview: "My 92-year-old mother, Flora Klein, is my hero," he said. "She was sent to a Nazi concentration camp at the age of 14 and survived, but all the members of her family were wiped out."
"She saw her mother walk into a gas chamber. Despite the tragedy, she is a positive person who sees the goodness in people's hearts. I wouldn't be that forgiving if I had lived her life."
"She raised me as a single mother in Israel... Mom had relatives living in America and so we relocated there for a better life when I was eight... My mother worked in a factory that was like a sweatshop - six days a week, no lunch breaks and there was no minimum wage. She was a button and buttonhole worker, handling 1,000 coats a day."
"My father was her one true love. She went to Israel 25 times to visit him, even though he was a scoundrel who had remarried."
