Family and Early Life
Bernanke was born in Augusta, Georgia, and was raised on East Jefferson Street in Dillon, South Carolina. His father Philip was a pharmacist and part-time theater manager. His mother Edna was an elementary school teacher. Bernanke has two younger siblings. His brother, Seth, is a lawyer in Charlotte, North Carolina. His sister, Sharon, is a longtime administrator at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
The Bernankes were one of the few Jewish families in Dillon and attended Ohav Shalom, a local synagogue; Bernanke learned Hebrew as a child from his maternal grandfather Harold Friedman, a professional hazzan (service leader), shochet, and Hebrew teacher. Bernanke's father and uncle co-owned and managed a drugstore they purchased from Bernanke's paternal grandfather, Jonas Bernanke.
Jonas had been born in Boryslav, Austria-Hungary (today part of Ukraine), on January 23, 1899, and emigrated to the United States from Przemyśl, Poland (part of Austria-Hungary until 1918). He arrived at Ellis Island, aged 30, on June 30, 1921, with his wife Pauline, aged 25. On the ship's manifest, Jonas's occupation is listed as "clerk" and Pauline's as "doctor med."
The family moved to Dillon from New York in the 1940s. Bernanke's mother gave up her job as a school teacher when her son was born and worked at the family drug store. Bernanke also assisted there from time to time.
Read more about this topic: Ben Bernanke
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