Bernhard Caesar Einstein
Bernard first met his grandfather Albert when he was two years old. As a boy he travelled alone to spend time with Albert in New Jersey, and at Saranac Lake in upstate New York. Einstein recounted to his son Thomas that he used to irritate his grandfather because he would urinate out the window directly above Albert's study in Princeton. At Saranac Lake he enjoyed sailing with his grandfather. Apparently Albert Einstein's favorite time to sail was when there was very little wind. According to Bernard, his grandfather enjoyed the challenge of harnessing whatever little bit of breeze he could capture. The sailing tradition was carried on by Albert's son, Hans Albert, and Bernard's children on the San Francisco Bay. Albert Einstein died in April 1955. Having shared his love of music with his grandson, he bequeathed Bernard his violin in addition to a modest sum of money.
In 1954, Bernard married Doris Aude Ascher (born c. 1938), with whom he had five children:
Helen Dukas
Her name was actually "Helene" and she was the daughter of a German-Jewish merchant named Leopold Dukas. Born, raised and educated initially in Freiburg im Breisgau, she had six siblings and a son named David, and her mother was named Hannchen (née Liebmann). Hannchen Dukas was coincidentally from the same town, Hechingen, that Elsa Einstein, Albert Einstein's second wife, hailed from. It was through this connection that Helen Dukas would gain the position as Albert Einstein's secretary in 1928. Following Elsa Einstein's death in 1936, Dukas would take on many of the housekeeper tasks for the Einstein family, by this point living in Princeton, New Jersey, where Dukas would remain until her death.