Dorothy Lehman Bernhard was born in New York City to a secular
Jewish family, the oldest child of
Adele (née Lewisohn) and Arthur Lehman. She had two sisters, Helen Lehman Buttenwieser Lehman and Frances Lehman Loeb. She is the niece of New York governor
Herbert Lehman and
Irving Lehman, the Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals in New York State. Her grandfathers were
Mayer Lehman and
Adolph Lewisohn. In 1920, she graduated from the
Horace Mann School after which she attended
Wellesley College but left after one year to marry investment banker Richard Jaques Bernhard in 1923. In the 1930s, her family established a charitable fund to aid relatives in emigrating from Nazi Germany and providing assistance in their resettlement; Bernard managed the fund. Thereafter, she dedicated herself to charitable causes. She was involved with the
Child Welfare League of America for much of her life serving as vice president for 13 years and president from 1957 to 1962. She served on the board of the Citizen's Committee for Children of New York City for twenty years. Being a foster parent, she was a proponent of the deinstitutionalization of foster care. She served as chairwoman of the
Hunter College School of Social Work Advisory Committee. She was appointed to the contributions New York State Board of Social Welfare from 1942 to 1947 and in 1960, she was appointed to the New York City Advisory Board on Public Welfare by Mayor
Robert F. Wagner. She was also a strong supporter of Jewish organizations serving as a trustee of the
Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, as vice president of the Jewish Child Care Association from 1940 to 1942, as a board member of the
New York Association for New Americans, as an honorary vice president of the Associated
YWHA of Greater New York, and as a member of the publications committee of
Commentary magazine. In 1962, she was presented by
Eleanor Roosevelt, the first Child Welfare Award from the Child Welfare League of America. Bernhard was also an avid art collector, supporter of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, and served on the board of the
New York Philharmonic. ==Personal life==