Norton Obituary: George Bernheimer

From Sherman-Jackson Funeral Home:

Mansfield, Mass resident George Bernheimer passed away on January 10, 2014 after a relatively brief battle with cancer, his wife, sons and close friends at his bedside.

Bernheimer was born in Munich, Germany in 1933 to Paul and Louise (nee Nassauer) Bernheimer. He was a great-grandson of Lehman Bernheimer, the founder of L. Bernheimer, one of the most prominent antique art businesses in Europe.

Shortly after the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 1938 throughout Germany and a brief incarceration of the adult members of the family in Dachau Concentration Camp, the Bernheimers fled their homeland. After a year in London awaiting their US visas, the family eventually settled in Norton, MA. Bernheimer attended Bristol County Agricultural High School, and later served with honors in the US Army at the end of the Korean War.

While stationed at Fort Polk, Louisiana, he met Jackie Trull, whom he married in 1954. The couple settled in Mansfield, where they lived together for nearly 60 years. Bernheimer was a long-time employee of the Foxboro Company.

In 1971 he co-founded the Norton Flea Market, which grew to be the largest weekly show in New England. Following in the family tradition, George and Jackie eventually went into the antique business under the guise of Moonstone Antiques, specializing in antique and estate jewelry, American Indian baskets, and antique bottles. The couple was a familiar fixture at antique shows from Maine to Louisiana and all points in between. Bernheimer was an avid tennis player, continuing to hit even passed his 80th birthday last May 29th.

He is survived by his mother, who lives in Laguna Woods, CA, aged 102; his wife Jackie, their sons Paul and Max Bernheimer, and three grand-children, Alexandra and Paul Jr. of Buffalo Grove, IL, and Ella, of Dobbs Ferry, NY. George was much adored by all who knew him, and will be greatly missed.

Services and burial will be private. Visiting hours have been omitted and In lieu of flowers please send a donation in memory of George Bernheimer to the American Lung Association National Headquarters, 1301 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 800, Washington D.C. 20004 www.lung.org/donate/

Arrangements are under the care and direction of the Sherman & Jackson Funeral Home, 55 North Main St., Mansfield.

To send the Bernheimer family a message of condolence, please visit www.shermanjackson.com