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Sabre's Tom Klein Steps Down As CEO And Steps Up To Rescue His High School

This article is more than 7 years old.

Sabre Corporation CEO Tom Klein announced two moves on Monday: He is stepping down as head of the travel-tech company at the end of the year and he's making a $250,000 contribution to help save his alma mater, Queen of Peace High School, a New Jersey Catholic school that has been targeted for closing by the Newark Archdiocese this month.

“As someone who knows the value of a quality Catholic education, I believe in Queen of Peace High School and trust that its new leadership will work hard to advance the school,” said Klein, a 1980 graduate of the North Arlington school, in a statement released by QP.

Klein will stay on as CEO of Sabre , which is based in Southlake, Texas, through the end of the year and then intends to turn his “personal attention to new opportunities.” His compensation last year was $8.7 million, including $936,923 in salary, according to the annual report.

“I loved my time at Queen of Peace High School and have tremendous memories due to the friends, faculty and community of the school,” said Klein, who was co-captain of the football team, boys’ student council president and escort for the homecoming queen during his senior year, according to the Peace Pact yearbook.  “This gift is made in honor of teachers who made a profound difference in my life and the lives of so many others along with the many more who quietly dedicated their careers for a greater purpose. The very identity of our beloved school lies with these special teachers. They are Queen of Peace.”

(Trivia bonus… the school is a 10-minute walk from Pizzaland, which is featured in the opening credits of The Sopranos.)

Klein’s is the biggest contribution so far to the $1 million goal of saving QP, which opened in 1930. He structured the gift so that $150,000 will go towards the campaign once the first $850,000 is raised. His remaining $100,000 commitment is earmarked for supporting the school in the long-term. The schools says that in just over three weeks, 600 other donors have contributed $415,000. But a June 30 deadline looms.

The archdiocese, which oversees the school, has yet to say whether $1 million will save it. Many Catholic high schools in the area have disappeared over the past few decades.

"There have been a couple of other instances where high schools that found themselves in great difficulty have risen to the occasion, and certainly we are hopeful that this can occur here as well," Jim Goodness, the archdiocese’s spokesman, told NorthJersey.com.

Klein, who lives in Dallas with his wife, Diana, and two teen-aged daughters, earned a business degree at Villanova University in 1984. He is on the board of trustees at Villanova, which is a Catholic college.

Earlier in his career he worked for American Airlines, according to the company’s website. He joined Sabre when it was still a unit of AMR Corp., American’s former parent company. In 2010 he was named president of Sabre and in 2013 he became CEO. Sabre says its software is used by hundreds of airlines and thousands of hotel properties.

Back when Klein attended, QP ran separate boys’ and girls’ schools that operated in tandem with enrollment of at least 1,000. In 1981, the school went fully co-educational. While once a school for kids in the parish and surrounding area, it now sends buses out every morning farther into the urban hinterlands to collect students. There is also a push to sign up foreign students. The star of the basketball team this year was a Muslim. Still, the overall enrollment listed on the website is an anemic 375. Ever optimistic that there will be a 2016-17 school year, tuition has been set at $9,200, up $300.

(Trivia bonus… former Yankees’ shortstop Derek Jeter’s grandfather, Sonny Connors, was the head of maintenance for the Queen of Peace church, elementary school and high school for many years. Jeter was a pallbearer at his funeral in the church in 1999, according to the New York Times.)

The school is hoping that its 9,000 alumni take heed of Klein’s move and step up as well.

“I am sure that my positive experience at Queen of Peace is not unique among my fellow alumni,” said Klein. “Inspired by its dedicated teaching staff, I am compelled to give back, honor them, and contribute to the school’s future so that many more students will have a chance to be educated and formed by them. I encourage all alumni and friends of Queen of Peace High School to do the same and give generously to the Save QPHS campaign.”

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