Bernard L. Stein grew up in Riverdale, where his father founded The Riverdale Press in 1950.

In 1978, he succeeded his father as the newspaper's editor. Two years later, when his parents retired, he and his brother became co-publishers.

Under Mr. Stein's editorship, The Press has won more than 300 state and national awards for excellence and has been named the best weekly newspaper in New York State eight times.

In 1986, The New York Press Association named Mr. Stein "Writer of the Year." In 1987 and again in 1988, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing.

In 1989, The Press office was destroyed by firebombs in retaliation for an editorial defending the right to read the novel The Satanic Verses. The national Society of Professional Journalists honored Richard and Bernard Stein with its First Amendment Award for "exceptional efforts by individuals and institutions to preserve the rights of free speech and free press."

Mr. Stein graduated from PS 81 and the Bronx High School of Science and earned a bachelor's degree in literature at Columbia. He continued his studies at the University of California at Berkeley, where he was active in the student, civil rights, and anti-war movements.

For 12 years after leaving graduate school and before returning to Riverdale, he was part of a team of scholars editing Mark Twain's writing for publication by the University of California Press.

Mr. Stein is 56. He lives in Riverdale with his wife Marguerite Adams and their 19-year-old daughter Anna.