Thomas Bernhardt

Tom Bernhardt attended Garrettford Elementary School near his hometown and quickly developed an interest in science courses. At Millersville University he studied chemistry before finding his true calling in bacteria studies.

Dr. Leung is conducting groundbreaking research into how bacteria form cells and what makes them resistant to antibiotics, in an extensive lab filled with organisms of all sizes and shapes.

Early Life and Education

Tom grew up near Garrettford Elementary School and attended Upper Darby High School (UDHS). At both schools he took many science courses with Mr. Spencer – his love of chemistry classes sparked an interest that eventually lead him to study it at Millersville University while researching how bacteria grow.

His grotesque scenes, as found in Eve of Retirement or Heldenplatz, as well as his use of repetition, black humor, disease themes and despair suggest Samuel Beckett and Theatre of the Absurd as influences. Bernhard’s amoral pessimism comes through in these plays through characters such as Narrator who denigrate Austrian institutions (such as Vienna’s Burgtheater) while criticizing their fellow citizens.

These individuals engage in long, abusive rants against an ignorant populace. Usually academics or “Geistesmenschen”, they strive for perfection but end up destroying themselves as well as everyone around them.

Professional Career

Bernhardt was internationally revered as one of Austria’s premier 20th-century authors, producing plays, novels and poetry collections that have won him international renown. Mittermayer expertly places events related to Bernhardt’s life and literary works into a larger cultural context that makes the book accessible even to non-German readers – with new archival material, testimonies from former colleagues as well as an exhaustive bibliography compiled in his book.

Bernhardt obtained both his undergraduate degree from Millersville University and doctorate degree from Texas A&M University. Specializing in microbiology, Bernhardt studied how bacteria multiply.

Bernhardt was an isolated figure despite her wealth and fame; she felt insecure and sought a sparring partner, often fighting with family and friends and engaging in multiple relationships with men she considered lovers. Furthermore, she spent huge sums gambling as well as buying exotic pets like boa constrictor snakes, lions, monkeys and pumas as pets.

Achievement and Honors

Bernhard’s prose is dense yet grimly humorous. Repetition and rhetorical devices create a lyrical harmony in his words; yet his world remains dark, macabre, and full of humanity’s greatest horrors.

Gitta Honegger attempts, in her biography of Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard, the first in English translation, to capture its essence and work. Bernhard was much-disliked in Austria; many would characterize him as an outcast who wrote vicious bile-filled rants on social decay, art, health care and Austrian self-importance. But Gitta Honegger seeks to portray Bernhard more accurately.

Garret Keizer was recognized with the 2016-17 Thomas Bernhard Labor Journalism Award during a forum at Tamiment Library on October 12, 2017, alongside columnist Ginger Adams Otis, journalist Michelle Chen and historian Jon Bloom.

Personal Life

Tom Bernhardt was an energetic family man, proud of the two daughters he raised – Elizabeth and Brianna – as well as taking great pleasure in documenting precious family moments through photography. Additionally, he enjoyed an extremely successful 20-plus-year career at UPS where his safety record remained impeccable.

Bernhardt has dedicated much of his research to biochemistry, Bacillus and Escherichia coli; specifically his team studies how bacteria build cell walls that pose challenges to antibiotic treatments.

He and his team gained new insights into how penicillin kills bacteria. Contrary to popular belief, it does not simply prevent them from building their walls; rather it makes their machinery malfunction in such a way as to spiral cells into an endless cycle of wall building and destruction that depletes resources quickly.

Net Worth

Thomas Bernhardt boasts a net worth of $2.5 billion. Previously a model theory expert and now teaching Actuarial Science, Financial Mathematics, and Stochastic Analysis at Manchester University he focuses on stochastic tools that can optimize pension plans as his research specialty.

He is an active member of the Fleet Reserve, Elks Lodge in Oak Harbor and Shriners in Bremerton. Additionally, he is proud to be the father of Elizabeth and Brianna as well as an excellent grandfather to Emma, Kaitlyn and Lucy – making him an amazing “Poppy”.

Thomas Bernhardt Photography and Thomas Bernhardt are proud owners of Polly, their chihuahua-dachshund mix. Bonnita runs their small business as Thomas Bernhardt Photography; together they also own mini dachshund named Bella.