Lou Bernieri
Lou Bernieri was born in Brooklyn, New York. He earned his BA in English at Harvard College and Master of Arts at the Bread Loaf School of English. He has done graduate work at Harvard and Boston College Divinity schools. In 1977 he began his teaching career as an English Instructor at Phillips Academy. While at Phillips he has served as Chair of the English Department, dorm counselor, Co-Director of the Headmaster’s Symposium on Race Relations, Director of the Teaching Fellow Program, head varsity track coach and associate head varsity football coach.
In 1987 he founded Andover Bread Loaf, an outreach program of Phillips Academy whose mission is to promote literacy and educational revitalization in the most economically disadvantaged school systems and communities around the world, particularly in US urban public schools. He retired from full time teaching at Phillips in 2025 but has continued as one of the directors of the Andover Bread Loaf program.
His awards include the Ertha Dengler History Award from the Lawrence History Center, the Bread and Roses Hall of Fame Award, the Jeannie Menucci Award from the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence, the Honored National Teaching Award, the International Bookfair Recognition Award. In 2016 he was awarded a Doctor of Letters by Middlebury College for his work with Andover Bread Loaf in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
He is a board member of the Merrimack Valley People for Peace.