Daniel J. Bernstein (1918-1970)
| Daniel J. Bernstein | |
|---|---|
| Born |
September 20, 1918 New York City |
| Died | August 20, 1970 (aged 51) Scarsdale, New York |
| Cause of death | leukemia |
| Education | Cornell University, Harvard Business School |
| Occupation | American businessman |
| Known for | DJB Foundation |
| Spouse(s) | Carol Underwood (m. 1953) |
| Children | Katherine (b. 1955) John (b. 1956) |
Daniel J. Bernstein (September 20, 1918 – August 20, 1970) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and liberal political activist.
Daniel J. Bernstein was born in New York City in 1918, the youngest of three brothers. Graduating from Cornell University in 1940, he went to Harvard Business School for a year and a half before going to work for the Land Conservation Corps.
When United States' entered World War II, Bernstein volunteered for the Navy and served from 1942 to 1946.
After leaving the military, Bernstein talked with Jim Robinson, a minister in Harlem, who guided him to the National Scholarship Fund and Service for Negro Students, which Bernstein helped expand.
After a few years he entered the business world and eventually began working for Loeb, Rhoades & Co., a Wall Street investment firm. Bernstein initiated hedge funds and became extremely wealthy, largely through betting long on Japanese stocks. In 1953, he married Carol Underwood, with whom he had two children. In 1956, while recuperating from knee surgery, Bernstein began working from home as an independent stockbroker.
The DJB Foundation was created in 1948 by Daniel Bernstein as a holding operation for the inheritance received from his father. When Bernstein died in 1970, approximately $5 million of his estate went to the DJB Foundation. This sum was substantially all of the Foundation's capital, as at his death it had about $100,000. Bernstein also left considerable sums to the National Council of Churches' Clergy and Laity Concerned About Vietnam, and to the Institute for Policy Studies.
The foundation was designed with an unusual mission that it hoped would be a model for other such efforts: that it spend down all of its money in a few years in order to do the greatest good then and for the future. This was an alternative to the traditional model of spending small amounts arising from investment activities and attempting to exist in perpetuity.
The Bernsteins always considered themselves to be liberal, but after a visit to Cuba in 1960, shortly after the Cuban Revolution the couple told their friends and acquaintances about their positive experiences. Thereafter, the Bernsteins' political and social lives moved leftward. Paul Swaze, editor of the Monthly Review, and other well known figures on the left were often present at the Bernsteins' home. They also supported senators like J. William Fulbright.
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