Born November 23, 1952, to Helen Bernstein and Robert L. Bernstein, who was the president of Random House publishing company and a founder and chairman of Human Rights Watch, Tom Bernstein earned his B.A. and J.D. at Yale University in 1974 and 1977, respectively. From 1977 to 1978, he served as a law clerk for Judge Jack B. Weinstein of the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Bernstein practiced entertainment law from 1978 to 1983 at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York.

 

In 1983, Bernstein left law practice to form, with Paul Weiss and Yale alum Roland Betts, the Hollywood production company Silver Screen Partners, which between 1983 and 1998 financed 75 films, including such hits as The Color of Money, Tin Men, Beauty and the Beast, Pretty Woman, The Little Mermaid and Sakharov. Betts, a crony of George W. Bush since they were fraternity brothers at Yale, brought in Bush as a partner in Silver Screen from the beginning, and Bush returned the favor by making Bernstein and Betts among the principal partners in the ownership group led by Bush that owned the Texas Rangers baseball franchise from 1989 to 1998.

 

By the early 1990s, Bernstein had begun to focus his energies on Chelsea Piers, L.P., which he and Betts co-founded in 1992 to develop and operate a sports and entertainment complex at the Chelsea Piers, a 30-acre waterfront site located between 17th and 23rd Streets along Manhattan’s Hudson River. The $100 million project transformed the four historic but neglected piers into a sports and recreation juggernaut attracting more than 4 million visitors each year.

 

In 2002, Bernstein was appointed by President Bush to serve as a Member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council in Washington, D.C., of which President Obama named him Chair in 2010.  

 

Bernstein has been actively involved in many organizations, including Human Rights First, Council on Foreign Relations, WNYC Radio, Fresh Air Fund, Partnership for Public Service, City Year New York, Center for Civil and Human Rights, Partnership for Public Service, Fund for Cities of Service, NYC & Company, Inc. and the Markle Foundation. From 2002 to 2005, Bernstein was co-founder and chairman of the International Freedom Center (IFC), a proposed cultural institution developed as an educational complement to the World Trade Center Memorial, which was killed by New York Governor George Pataki after criticism that any attempt by the IFC to contextualize the events of 9/11 would be anti-American, a charge Bernstein vehemently denied. 

 

Bernstein is married to Andrea L. (Echikson) Bernstein, a former executive at Oxygen Media who served on the host committee for the 2004 Republican National Convention. The couple has three children.

 

Originally a Democrat, from 1992 to 2010 Bernstein contributed $146,380 to political candidates and causes associated with both major parties, and to third party causes as well. Bernstein’s contributions to Democrats have totaled $87,380, including $1,000 to Bill Clinton in 1995 and three major contributions for 2008: $4,600 to Barack Obama, $10,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and $28,500 to the Democratic National Committee. His contributions to Republicans come to $54,500, including $4,000 to George W. Bush’s campaigns and $50,000 to the Republican National Committee in 2003 and 2004. Bernstein was also a major fundraiser for the former president’s two election campaigns, achieving “Bush Pioneer” status by raising at least $100,000 for Bush. 

 

Spiked By Pataki, Museum Vanishes Without A Space (by Matthew Schuerman, New York Observer