Bernard Spitzer is the father of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. He was born to Jewish immigrants in the Lower East side of New York, in a cold-water tenement. A self-made man, he became a successful real estate developer and noted philanthropist, who financed his son's campaign for governor.

• TIME: Was Spitzer Destined to Fall? (March 13, 2008)
  • Bernard (who is in his 80s and suffering from Parkinson's) was a fierce, demanding parent. He once reduced Eliot to tears during a game of Monopoly... Eliot couldn't afford the rent when a roll of the dice landed him on [a] property. "He didn't realize his own rights," Bernard told [Spitzer biographer] Brooke Masters years later, adding that he had taught his son a lesson: "Never defer to authority."
• Emporis.com: Bernard Spitzer Projects
• American Museum of Natural History: Anne and Bernard Spitzer Hall of Human Origins
• The City College of New York: Anne and Bernard Spitzer Chair in Political Science
• Topix.net: Bernard Spitzer
• Google News: Bernard Spitzer
• New York Times: Politics Seen in Nasty Call to Spitzer's Father (August 22, 2007)
• Museum of Jewish Heritage: Bernard, Anne, and Governor Eliot Spitzer Honored (April 24, 2007)(154.96 KB)
• Newsday: Helping Hand From Dad (June 22, 2006)