2 Quotes & Sayings By Bernard B Kerik
Bernard B. Kerik, a New York Times bestselling author of the #1 best-selling memoir “My Beloved World,” is the former Commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction. The son of an Italian immigrant father and a Polish Jewish mother, Bernard grew up in the Bronx and Brooklyn boroughs of New York City. As a teenager, he was involved in numerous incidents that would lead to his being arrested by the NYPD, although he was never convicted of a crime
After graduating from Queens College, Bernard joined the NYPD in 1993 and rose through the ranks to become Chief of Department at the same time he was pursuing an MBA at New York University’s Polytechnic Institute. He left the NYPD to take a job with Bear Stearns as a senior vice president and investment banker, but left that position after four years to become chief executive officer for a New Jersey construction company. In 2002, President George W.
Bush nominated Bernard as Assistant Secretary for Public Safety and Correctional Services at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In this position, he supervised over 250,000 employees charged with securing America’s borders from terrorism and illegal immigration, as well as overseeing federal prisons and supervising more than 200,000 inmates in more than 170 facilities across the United States.
In January 2007, Bernard resigned from his position as Assistant Secretary to become President Bush’s first nominee for Corrections Commissioner in New York City – a position that had been held by his father 40 years earlier. On May 7th 2007 President Bush nominated Bernard B. Kerik for a second term as Corrections Commissioner for the State of New York before the U.S.
Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs – following confirmation by voice vote of both chambers of Congress on April 29th 2007 – before retiring from public service altogether on June 14th 2009 at age 48.