Kay Bernstein is dead. The Hertha president died completely unexpectedly on Tuesday. A widow remains. But especially a small child.
Bernstein has held the office of president of the capital club since summer 2022. He tried to get the stumbling Hertha, which was relegated from the Bundesliga around a year later, back on track. But he also always made it clear: private life must not be neglected.
Bernstein lived in Hoppegarten with his wife Eileen. He proposed to her in October 2022. The two only got married last year. Their daughter had already completed their great happiness. Just a year ago, the now deceased Bernstein told the “Berliner Morgenpost” about the difficulty of reconciling family and work: “If I make sure that I do justice to my role as a father, everything will be fine.”
Video | Fans mourn the death of Hertha president: “Nobody can get close to Kay”
Bernstein before his death: “What am I like as a family man?
Now Bernstein is dead. The daughter, not even three years old, has to grow up without her father. Bernstein had another daughter from a previous relationship.
Just a few weeks ago, in December 2023, he spoke to the YouTuber “Feliecio 1892” about how difficult it is to balance work and private life. He reflected on his first year and a half as Hertha president. The time was “personally challenging” for him. He asked himself: “What am I like as a family man? What am I like as a friend? How much sacrifice does this position entail?”
In the first 500 days as Hertha president, his family and the club were present. “But then it stops because everything else has been put aside. I can remember a few evenings with friends that I spent time with outside of football.”
You realize relatively quickly that “this office is eating you up.” The reason: “Because this Kay no longer exists. There are only the expectations surrounding Hertha BSC, whether from the family or the environment,” says Bernstein. “The overriding theme was Hertha BSC, not our little daughter who is currently growing up. Not the woman who took over the shop here after her parental leave.”
In 2010, Bernstein founded the event and communications agency “Team Bernstein”. His wife took over the business after he was elected Hertha president. He seemed to be fully aware of his wife’s great support: “I hope I say thank you to her often enough.”
“The little daughter gives so, so much”
Bernstein also discussed how strenuous his job as Hertha boss was. “If you think back on how often you’ve driven the route: Hoppegarten, Charlottenburg, Charlottenburg, Hoppegarten. You’re somehow in the car for two and a half hours a day. There’s also something good about having a little more time to reflect on the day at the end of the day “Let it happen, make a few more phone calls.” The work took a lot out of him.
But: Bernstein was able to draw boundaries. It’s about “arriving home, leaving your cell phone in the car, being the family dad and not doing the Zoom call or the meeting afterwards,” says Bernstein. Such situations also exist. “But we talked to the family relatively quickly: Let’s limit it to two evenings a week that Hertha can have. The other days are for daughter, family, wife.”
He described the year 2023 as moving. “We got married with wedding preparation. Our daughter is now two and a half. The last year is also starting to be nice for dad,” he said. “Facial expressions, gestures, interaction, playing, swinging, sliding. The little daughter gives so, so much.” He could hardly have been aware of the tragedy of his statements a few weeks before his death.