Born to Jewish parents, Erwin Kleinfeld lived in Austria until age 11, when he emigrated to the United States with his family, after having had to depart Europe to escape the Nazi persecutions in the late 1930s. They settled in New York City, where he eventually proved great early mathematical talent in school and went on to get a degree from the City College of New York (currently part of CUNY).

Kleinfeld decided to pursue a career in mathematics and was granted a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1951. Subsequently, he held lecturer positions at the University of Chicago and Yale University, and, before arriving at the University of Iowa as a professor in 1968, he held professor positions at Ohio State University and Syracuse University.

His career rapidly took off due to fundamental contributions in algebra, and more specifically in non-associative algebras, in the 50’s and early 1960’s. His work on alternative rings, and later Jordan algebras was featured at several ICM’s (International Congress of Mathematicians, the main event in the world of mathematics held once every four years), and was essential in many subsequent landmark contributions by top mathematicians such as M. Artin, N. Jacobson, M. Zorn, and of Fields Medalist Efim Zelmanov, and lead to later work related to that of Fields Medalist Sergei Novikov. 

His contributions gained international recognition, and he has been invited to many prestigious conferences, as well as a visiting professor and lecturer all over the world, including Australia, Asia, and Europe. Over his career, he advised ten PhD students, who became professors and leaders at prestigious institutions. Kleinfeld and his wife, Margaret "Peggy" Kleinfeld, were both mathematics professors at the University of Iowa until their retirement in 2002, and had important contributions to the department as well, helping recruit several outstanding faculty.

In 2017, together with his wife, and shortly after her death, the Kleinfelds made the single largest donation to the Department of Mathematics in its entire history. The very generous donation, followed by an additional endowment from the Kleinfeld estate, created the Kleinfeld fellowship as well as several other awards for graduate students in mathematics, and it is and will be used to attract future generations of outstanding Ph.D. students. They have already impacted a large number of our graduate students (list below).

Kleinfeld was an outstanding mathematician and dedicated faculty of the University of Iowa, as well as dedicated member of the Iowa City community. His scientific work has made a profound impact and gained international recognition, and his impact on mathematics, as well as the department and university, will have a lasting effect on generations to come of Ph.D. students.