Robert A. Bernhard

Robert Arthur Bernhard (March 14, 1928 – July 4, 2019)

Life and career Bernhard was born in 1928 to a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Richard Jaques Bernhard and Dorothy Lehman Bernhard. He graduated from Williams College in 1951 and the Harvard School of Business in 1953.

In 1981, he opened his own firm, Bernhard & Associates. In 1990 it merged with Orson Munn & Company to create Munn, Bernhard & Associates (MB Investment Partners). In 1997 he became a partner of McFarland Dewey & Company.

Bernhard is a Life Trustee of Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan, New York City, after having previously served as its president. His service also coincided with the Cooper Union financial crisis and tuition protests.

A friend of Jerry Speyer, Bernhard was involved in the Tishman Speyer bid to take over management of the Chrysler Building, the land under which is Cooper Union's biggest asset, by agreeing to Tishman's proposal for a new lease for the building.

Personal life In 1949, he married Frances Wells; they had 4 children: Adele, Michael, Susan, Steven. In 1970, he married Joan Mack Sommerfield. He died in Greenwich, Connecticut on July 4, 2019.