There are so many wonderful memories to share about Bernie and it is difficult to choose what to say.   He was funny, intelligent, patient, loyal and very observant.  But when I think of shared times from my childhood to the last few years, the common thread is kindness.  He was always kind.  In the late 1960s, the Leitners and the Larsons met in Wyoming for a camping trip. All the kids decided we wanted to build a raft to go across this stream.  It was a silly scheme but Bernie supported our little dream and we made it across the stream.  Many years later when our Mom died in1991, Bernie, Jane and Patty came to Minneapolis and stayed with our Dad for two weeks.  The loving support offered by the Leitners was one of the kindest acts I have ever witness. For the next 23 years, Bernie and Jane were steadfast friends to our Dad.  They planned and took trips together, exchanged letters and called on a regular basis.  I will always remember Bernie for these quiet constant acts of kindness.

Bernie and my Dad (marv) shared a friendship that lasted 60 + years.  To me that says a lot about the kind of men they both were.   What is amazing to me is that they really did keep in touch - being that Leitners were in CA and my parents were in MN.

They shared Travel - Camping trips, Europe and Hawaii, along with trips to CA and MN!   

They shared Letter - OH the letters!   Its amazing the notes they shares back and forth!

They shared Books - Read a great book Bernie?  Bernie would mail it to Marv!  


More importantly - they shared 60 YEARS (think about that) of friendship!   That to me is most special - and I miss them both so very very much.  

And of course, there was the time he volunteered to bring me a car I had inherited, driving it from California to New York.  I was a little humbled by his generosity, but I couldn’t refuse.  When he arrived with the car, he wouldn’t let me pay for dinner.  He did sleep over in my tiny Greenwich Village studio, so I offered him the bed while I slept on the kitchen floor.  He insisted on the uncomfortable spot. 

Ultimately however, I paid, because for years after he would tell people how he drove my car all the way across the country and then I “made him” sleep under the kitchen table.