GBN Holds Memorial Service For Longtime Staffer “Bernie”

Nearly a year after a longtime staff member passed away in what may have been a case of criminal neglect, the school is holding a memorial service in his honor.    

On May 17, members of the school community will gather to honor the life of former Glenbrook North administrator Werner “Bernie” Bernhard. The Northbrook resident passed away at 83 last July, four months after emergency responders found him in critical condition on the floor of his daughter’s home.  

He had apparently been lying on the ground, severely dehydrated and emaciated, for at least a week when police were called to the scene in March 2011. His daughters, Sarah and Lisa Bernhard, were both of an elderly person, which is a felony. 

Earlier: 

Around Glenbrook North, where he worked from 1953 to 1997, Bernhard was simply known as “Bernie.” 

“Whenever someone came to  from somewhere else, one of the first things you learned was: get to know Bernie,” former GBN assistant principal Blaine Royer told Patch in July. 

, Patch spoke to several friends and acquaintances, who said Bernhard was known throughout the school for his big heart and his ability to fix everything—from a slide projector to a VCR to a computer. 

“He lived the golden rule, his heart was as big as Texas, and he did things with humility and without selfishness,” Royer told Patch. 

The memorial service takes place at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, May 17, in the Glenbrook North library.