Dr. Joseph Bernstein

1928 - 2015

Dr. Joseph Bernstein

Died June 26, 2015, at the age of 86, surrounded by his family after a short battle with congestive heart failure. Born in 1928 in Brooklyn, NY, Joe was the son of Jacob and Sadie Bernstein. After he moved with his family to Manhattan, he attended Horace Mann High School, where he excelled academically and played on an All-NYC football team. He attended Union College, where he received a bachelor's degree in three years and earned Phi Beta Kappa honors. He attended Albany Medical College and graduated in 1952 (Alpha Omega Alpha). He interned at Mt. Zion Hospital in San Francisco before being drafted by the Army in 1953 to serve in the Korean Conflict as a flight surgeon. He mended wounds in a battalion aide station, closer to the front than the more famous MASH units. While in the service, he earned his pilot's license to fly light aircraft. He then married the love of his life, Helen Hourihan of Malone, NY, at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii in 1955. He returned from the Army to San Francisco and did an orthopedic surgery residency at UCSF. Five children were born who survive him: Mark (Janie), John (Barbara), Sara (Manny) Chaves, David (Beth), Matthew (Linda); grandchildren Heather (Michael) Aspell, Daniel (Kayla) Corini, Jessica Bernstein, Michael and Nico Chaves, Jacob and Sam Bernstein; his brother, Alan, who predeceased him; his sister, Bonnie (Mel) Pomeranz; brother-in-law David (Jan) Hourihan; and many nieces and nephews. He was devoted to all of them. He served as a volunteer physician in Vietnam in 1973, teaching doctors in Da Nang techniques to avoid amputations. He loved and was very dedicated to St. Ignatius College Preparatory, which honored him and Helen with its President's Award in 1999. He served SI as Fathers' Club President and the SI football program as its team physician for 25 years. He was a Renaissance man who loved music, art, literature and golf. He had two holes-in-1 at Lake Merced Golf Club where he also served on its Board of Directors. He was honored numerous times for his work teaching orthopedic surgery at Mount Zion Hospital. He retired in 1998 and spent his retirement years golfing, doing Photoshop on the tens-of-thousands of family pictures he had taken over the years, being active in the lives of his grandchildren and playing with his two cats, PB and J. He and Helen traveled extensively and had memorable trips to Italy and Spain with Father Mario Prietto, S.J. while Joe also had the privilege of traveling to Europe with Leo La Rocca and Father Prietto as well as an East Coast trip with Brother Douglas Draper, S.J. (all of St. Ignatius). The family is grateful to Dr. & Mrs. Mark Marin for their care and friendship. They will forever appreciate Fr. Prietto, Br. Draper and Joe Vollert for their visits to Joe in his final days and the late Rev. Harry Carlin, S.J. whose friendship Joe and Helen treasure. A Remembrance will be held in the Rev. Harry V. Carlin, S.J. Commons on the campus of St. Ignatius College Preparatory, 2001 37th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94116 on Friday 24 July (Joseph's 87th birthday) at 5 PM. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to the Bernstein Scholarship Fund at St. Ignatius College Prep.