Robert Bernstein, 87; Army physician was head of Walter Reed

Dr. Robert Bernstein, 87, an Army physician who served as commander of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the 1970s and later became Texas Commissioner of Health, died Monday at a hospital in Austin after a battle with leukemia and other health problems, said friend and colleague Camille D. Miller, chief executive of the Texas Health Institute.

Bernstein served as an Army surgeon in Japan and Korea starting in the late 1940s. He was promoted to major general and named commander of Walter Reed in Washington, D.C., in July 1973.

He served there until his retirement from the Army in February 1978.

He oversaw the expansion and modernization of the hospital, which culminated in 1977 with a seven-story, 1,200-bed facility that cost $130 million. The Pentagon plans to close the Army hospital in 2011.

After leaving the military, Bernstein moved to Austin and served as chief of the Bureau of Long Term Care at the Texas Department of Health.

He was appointed the state’s health commissioner in January 1980 and retired in 1991.

Born in New York City in 1920, Bernstein graduated from Vanderbilt University and attended the University of Louisville School of Medicine under the Army Specialized Training Program.