Bernard "Bernie" Bachrach

Bernard Stanley Bachrach of St. Paul Minnesota, husband of Deborah Bachrach, passed into the hands of G-d on Friday, July 14th, 2023.

Bernard, known to his legion of friends and admirers as Bernie, was born on May 14th, 1939 in the Bronx, New York, the eldest child of George and Sally Bachrach and brother to Arlene. Bernard graduated from Queens College in New York City in 1961 and received his PhD in history from the University of California at Berkeley in 1966. The author of dozens of books and hundreds of scholarly articles, Bernard was a world-renowned historian of medieval Europe. He won numerous awards for his scholarship and teaching, and in 1986 was one of the youngest scholars ever to be elected a fellow of the prestigious Medieval Academy of America. Bernard spent most of his career at the University of Minnesota, where he was a professor from 1967-2020.

Bernard met his life-long partner and love of his life Deborah Yellin at Queens College, where they were both teaching 1966-1967. The two were married on June 26th, 1968. Bernard and Deborah raised their three sons, Jamie, David, and Dan in St. Paul. Bernard felt blessed to have had the opportunity celebrate his 55th wedding anniversary with Deborah, and to watch his nine grandchildren Sam, Eliana, Maddie, Jacob, Rachel, Jessica, Henry, Caleb, and Lilah grow up.

Bernard’s great passions were his family, his work, and sports. Bernard was an athlete throughout his life. A competitive track runner in high school, college, and graduate school, later in life Bernard took up squash and was a ranked player in Minnesota into his 40s. Over the past two decades, Bernard was an avid golfer and flirted with hitting his age up through the summer of 2022. Among his favorite things were running with his wife Deborah as they trained together for marathons, and hitting golf balls with his son Dan. He also took great pleasure in working together with his son David, with whom he wrote books and articles about medieval history.

Bernard passed with his wife Deborah at his side. May his memory be for a blessing.

He is survived by his wife, Deborah; sons, David (Elyse) and Daniel (Julie); sister, Arlene (Fred) Lansky of Saratoga, Florida; and nine grandchildren. Funeral service SUNDAY, July 16, 2023 at 2:30pm at MOUNT ZION TEMPLE, 1300 Summit Ave., St. Paul. Service also live-streamed at www.mzion.org Shiva: Sunday, Monday and Tuesday at 7:00pm at 1163 Edgecumbe Rd., St. Paul.