Bernard Weiner

1940 - 2026

Bernard Weiner
02/09/1940 - 02/15/2026
Bernard Weiner
1940 - 2026
Writer. Proud father. Proud husband. Proud pain in the establishment's side.
At 86 years young, Bernard Weiner passed away peacefully on February 15, 2026, waiting a day after Valentine's Day as a final love letter to his beloved wife Heidi by his side.
Born in Pittsburgh in 1940 and transplanted to Miami at age five, Bernie spent his formative years stocking shelves at his father Dan's grocery store, fueled by his mother Florence's health-conscious meals and, it seems, an early sense that the world was not yet arranged correctly. By high school he was writing letters to the Governor urging desegregation, which, for a teenager in 1955 Florida, was either brave, foolhardy, or both. Bernie would have called it obvious.
At the University of Miami he became editor of The Miami Hurricane, attended Harvard's playwriting program, and launched 'A Liberal Light,' a scrappy progressive newsletter. He earned his PhD in 1965, taught college, and edited the 'Northwest Passage' newspaper in Bellingham Washington before joining the San Francisco Chronicle in 1971, where he became a beloved theater critic and a cherished fixture of San Francisco's arts community. His passion for finding and championing new works, emerging talent, and burgeoning theater companies led to San Francisco becoming a national theater hotspot, second only to New York.
In retirement he co-founded The Crisis Papers, a political blog he ran for sixteen years, inspiring and amplifying progressive voices and causes around the globe. He served on the California Council for Arts, helped establish the Marin Playwrights Lab, penned poetry books, wrote and produced plays, and joined the Mill Valley Photo Forum, adding "photographer" to a very full resumé.
Those who knew Bernie best will tell you the artist and the critic were only part of the picture. At home he was warm, funny, and fully present: a devoted father and a steadfast husband whose humor was the connective tissue of family life. He loved to share jokes, often emailing giant compilations of his favorites to everyone he knew. He wanted people to laugh, and we're sure, in his passing, he'd want you to pull up your favorite joke and crack a smile.
He is survived by his wife Heidi, his sister Linda, his sons Erik and Mark, daughter-in-law Kerry, his granddaughters Roxy and Juni, and other loved ones. He would have loved this obituary, but he'd have had some notes.