From the Duke News Service

April 20, 2001

Herbert L. Bernstein, a professor at Duke University School of Law for nearly two decades, died Friday after suffering an apparent heart attack. He was 71.

A specialist in contract, comparative and private international law, Bernstein was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1930. The child of a mixed Jewish and non-Jewish marriage, he survived the Nazi persecution and the Allied bombing raids that ravaged his native city and destroyed his home, living for a time in a pig sty on a farm on the outskirts of the city.

After the war, Bernstein studied and practiced law in Hamburg and was elected to the prestigious Max-Planck Institute for Foreign and Private International Law. While in private practice, Bernstein continued his studies at the University of Hamburg, where he earned a doctorate in law magna cum laude. He came to the United States in 1962 to study at the University of Michigan, where he obtained his J.D. degree magna cum laude. He taught at University of California at Berkeley, the University of Hamburg in Germany, and the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, before joining the Duke faculty in 1984.

"Professor Bernstein was a man of extraordinary erudition, warmth and humanity," said Katharine Bartlett, Duke Law School's dean and A Kenneth Pye Professor of Law. "He was a doting grandfather, an unfailingly kind and generous colleague, a favorite of the staff, and a sure guide to the students. As we grieve his loss, we are grateful for the privilege of having known such a wonderful man."

Bernstein was actively involved in the field of international economic integration. During the early stages of the European Community/European Union, he was involved in the litigation of major cases in the European Court of Justice. In recent years he taught the European Union Law class at Duke.

On the morning of his death, he completed final revisions to the manuscript of the second edition of his treatise Understanding the Convention of the International Sale of Goods in Europe with his co-author, Professor Joseph Lookofsky of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

Bernstein is survived by his wife, Waltraud, of Durham; three daughters, Rebecca of Hamburg, Germany, Cornelia of Rome, Italy, and Bettina of New York, N.Y.; a son, Patrick of Hamburg, Germany; and by four grandchildren.

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