Sir Howard Bernstein, Manchester legend, dies

Former Manchester council chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein - the man widely credited with spearheading the city’s 21st Century renaissance - has died aged 71. He leaves behind wife Vanessa, two children and three step children.

Sir Howard joined the town hall aged 18 as a junior clerk in 1971 and rose to become one of the UK’s most powerful civil servants outside of Whitehall, famed for his ability to strike a deal.

Alongside former council leaders Graham Stringer and Sir Richard Leese, he oversaw Manchester’s remarkable transformation from the post-industrial doldrums of the 1980s to the bustling, modern city of today.

READ MORE: Sir Howard Bernstein - the man who changed the face of Manchester

The many projects to bear his stamp include the regeneration of Hulme, the Commonwealth Games, the success of Manchester Airport, the rebuild after the 1996 IRA bomb, the Metrolink, Bridgewater Hall and devolution.

The older of two brothers, Sir Howard was born into a Jewish family in Cheetham Hill in 1953. His dad Maurice – whose parents had emigrated from Russia in the 1900s – sold raincoats on Cheetham Hill Road above a laundrette opposite the library.

In a 2016 interview with the Manchester Evening News, Sir Howard told how his Jewish upbringing in the shadow of the Second World War shaped his outlook on life - and would come to shape his home city. “My father was always very... not political, but very socially aware,” he said.

“I think most Jewish families were in that era, from where they came from, and where their parents came from. Being in a community was fundamental. Treating people with respect, working across the community – that always was seen as being very, very important.”

From humble beginnings, his