Klinghoffer grew up on Suffolk Street in the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City. Among his close friends was Jack Kirby, who grew up in the same neighborhood and became a major figure in the history of comic books.[2][3]
Klinghoffer married Marilyn (born Windwehr), the daughter of a haberdasher, in September 1949. The couple had two daughters. Klinghoffer suffered two strokes later in his life that left him in a wheelchair.[4]
While he was growing up, Klinghoffer worked in his family's hardware store, Klinghoffer Supply Company. In 1942, he joined the Army Air Force and was trained as a navigator. He flew missions in B-24 Liberator bombers with the 93rd Bombardment Group in the European theater of World War II.
Leon Klinghoffer, after World War II, waiting for passage to Canada and Israel
After his honorable discharge from the Army in January 1944, Klinghoffer and his brother Albert took over the store and began to invent appliances.[4] A few years later, the two brothers founded the Roto-Broil Corporation of America. Their feature item was the Roto-Broil Rotisserie Oven or Roto-Broil 400, a common kitchen appliance in the 1950s.[5][6]