Paul P. Bernstein

Biography

Paul was born in Brooklyn, joined the United States Army, and had a stint playing minor league baseball. The son of a jeweler, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Economics from New York University before eventually co-founding Sanford C. Bernstein with his brother in 1967.

Paul is an avid traveler, patron of the arts, and sports enthusiast. He currently resides in Manhattan with his wife Peggy and their dog, Bunny.

Sanford C. Bernstein

Paul and his brother, Zalman Bernstein, created a firm that was revolutionary for its time. They only accepted discretionary accounts and based investment decisions on a dividend discount model, which relied upon their formula for calculating future earnings of companies in whom they invested. Their investment model required robust and accurate research to be successful, and Sanford C. Bernstein quickly became well respected on Wall Street for their superior research.

Paul is known as a "great salesman" and was responsible for bringing in most of the firm's accounts, especially in the early days. Paul and Zalman added Shepard D. Osherow, Roger Hertog, and Lewis Sanders to their firm in 1968. Sanford C. Bernstein's assets under management grew to over $80 billion from more than 25,000 private and institutional clients. The firm was eventually sold to Alliance Capital Management for $3.5 billion in 2000 and is part of what is known as AllianceBernstein today.

Philanthropy

Paul has become one of the most well-known people in NYC over the past few decades. He's been very involved in charities including Seeds of Peace, The Seeing Eye, and K-9 Companions. Paul produced and had a role in the movie Serendipity, and produced the movie and book for Besa, a story about Muslims who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.