Bernie Rod is a native Washingtonian, and he became a Bar Mitzvah at Adas Israel.  He spent his entire career working for the Federal Government as a research engineer at the Harry Diamond Laboratories (later the US Army Research Laboratory) and at the Consumer Products engineering laboratory.
 
Bernie and his wife Cheryl were married in 1973, and they have two daughters, Marcia (Matt) and Lisa (Adam) and four grandchildren.  The family joined Beth El Congregation in the early 1980’s, where Bernie immediately became a member of the Men’s Club.  He later served as president of the club on two occasions.  Bernie has always been a strong supporter of the FJMC and made sure the club was a full participant in that organization’s programs while he was President.  He was named the club’s Blue Yarmulke Man-of-the-Year in 2003. 
 
When the family moved from Bethesda to the Potomac/Rockville area, Bernie and his family joined Har Shalom in 2007.  Bernie joined the Men’s Club there, and Cheryl became President of their Sisterhood.  About seven years ago, the family joined B’nai Israel Congregation, while remaining members of Har Shalom.  Bernie immediately became involved in B’nai Israel’s Men’s Club and rose to serve as its president.  Cheryl became the Treasurer of their Sisterhood and is currently the President.  In 2018 Bernie became a Blue Yarmulke honoree again – this time at B’nai Israel. 
 
Bernie and Cheryl have a strong commitment to Conservative Jewish religious values and are strong supporters of Israel and the Jewish National Fund.  Although sometimes teased about his family having been members of a number of local synagogues, Bernie says it is actually kind of nice in that they have so many friends and acquaintances from the different synagogues they are always running into people they know.