▲ Newborn Bernie in Minnie Marks’s arms, in Elmira, New York, in November 1938, as her father proudly looks on. The new grandfather, whose first name was Joseph, had served in the Russian army before emigrating to America around 1900 from Kiev, Ukraine.

In America, Joseph met his wife, another refugee from the Eastern European pogroms, the century-long persecution and massacres of Jews. Throughout Bernie’s life, he never referred to his grandmother as anything but Bubbe, the Yiddish word for “grandmother.”

▲ Bernie looks to be about 3 in this colorized studio portrait. Even then, he shows a preference for holding the ball in his left hand. To me, the best thing about this photo is that whoever colorized it captured Bernie’s gorgeous blue eyes and reddish hair.

▲ Minnie and Sid Marks with Bernie (left) and Murray in the mid 1940s, before Rozanne arrived.

Sid died of lung cancer in 1964. Minnie passed away of old age in 2002.

▲ Bernie about age 10 or 11 in Elmira, New York. Whenever I show friends the original photo, which I keep in my living room, I say: “Who wouldn’t fall in love with a guy as sweet as that?”

Notice, too, that in every photo in this section—and many more elsewhere on the site and in BETTING ON BERNIE—he’s wearing what I call his “big, bright Bernie smile” or grin. Even the newborn Bernie (top left) seems to be smiling!