Kay Bernstein (†43): Hertha President is dead

Hertha President Kay Bernstein is dead. The club announced on Tuesday that the 43-year-old died unexpectedly.

Sad news from the 2nd Bundesliga: Kay Bernstein, President of Hertha BSC, has died. As the club announced on Tuesday, the entrepreneur’s death was unexpected.

“The entire club, its committees and employees are stunned and deeply dismayed,” wrote the Berliners on the platform X (formerly Twitter). “The Hertha family mourns with Kay’s survivors and their thoughts are with his family, friends and companions during this difficult time.” The club asked that privacy be respected “after this terrible event.”

Bernstein was once the lead singer of the club in the Ostkurve and was also socially involved with Hertha. At the general meeting on June 26, 2022, he was surprisingly elected president against the favored CDU politician Frank Steffel and another competitor. He became the successor to Werner Gegenbauer, who had led the second division club for a long time. His election was also seen as a slap in the face for the Hertha establishment, some of which blatantly wanted to push through their opponent, Frank Steffel.

An ex-Ultra at the helm of a club that was still playing in the Bundesliga at the time was a novelty. Bernstein always addressed problems clearly. He made the club and the office more approachable again. This became clear not only with his omnipresent Hertha training jacket, which he usually wore.

There was no player training at Hertha on Tuesday. The start of the training week was planned for next Wednesday.