Clifford R. Bernier ’81 died on May 23, 2025, in Alexandria, Virginia.
(The following was provided by AAMI Array in May 23, 2025:)
Clifford R. Bernier ’81
In Memoriam: Cliff Bernier, ‘The Best Kind of Colleague’
By Brian Stallard
Clifford R. Bernier ’81
AAMI members, staff, the greater standards development community, and the medical device field mourn the passing of Cliff Bernier, 30-year director of standards and friend to many.
“I will remember Cliff for his open hugs, constant smile, and readiness for a laugh,” AAMI member Lena Cordie-Bancroft recently shared with AAMI News.
“Cliff was first and foremost a great guy; a master of humour, intellect, poetry and music,” added Richard Bancroft. “He will be sorely missed by all who knew him…. I will miss our friendship, banter and too many good laughs to mention.”
The pair’s sentiments reflect those of the communities Bernier touched throughout his tenure at AAMI. According to staff and colleagues, he was a man who made friends and memories easily.
Bernier’s first job at AAMI, in 1991, was as a technical editor, where he was responsible for editing standards. However, this work quickly familiarized him with how standards are developed. He soon transitioned to helping AAMI’s many members and subject-matter-experts convene as they built these important documents from the ground up.
“I went with another staff member to assist with an international sterilization meeting in London, and at that point, I had gotten comfortable with the standards,” Bernier told AAMI News on the day of his retirement in 2022. “My colleague had two technical committees to manage, and it seemed to be too much, so I asked him if I could take one. And that’s how I ended up running TC 150/SC 2, cardiovascular implants and extracorporeal systems.”
“The motto in healthcare is ‘Do no harm,’” he added. “That resonates with me. So, the work AAMI does was something I could believe in and could do without reservation.”
Clifford R. Bernier ’81
“When I first attended the AAMI meeting, I was really embarrassed because my English wasn’t very good,” remembered Sylvie Dufresne, who represents Canada as Chair of the ISO sterilization standards committee. “Cliff was the one who enabled me to open up and continue to express my opinions despite the quality of my English at that time… I’ll always be grateful to him for that.”
“Cliff was the best kind of colleague: friendly, trusted, patient, always willing to share knowledge and expertise … and a great story or two,” said Amanda Benedict, vice president of Sterilization, AAMI. “Over the years, Cliff kindly and patiently helped many new AAMI team members, myself included, learn the ‘AAMI ways’ of standards development, and contributed to building best practices within our standards program. I’ve truly been inspired by Cliff’s passion for the work of his committees and have enjoyed getting to experience his creative talents through local poetry (sometimes with harmonica!) performances. He was a big part of the heart of AAMI Standards and will be greatly missed.”
Senior Standards Director Colleen Elliott worked alongside Bernier for more than a decade. She added that “Cliff was a kind and thoughtful colleague who was always up for sharing his creativity, raising a glass, or trying something new – like the time our department went out for pedicures as a team-building activity!”
Bernier’s efforts with ISO TC150 was also the beginning of his legacy as a man who brought companionship and the arts to the oft-dry work that is standards development.
At one particular ISO meeting in Minneapolis, Bernier happened upon a German delegate who’d brought along his guitar. In a stroke of luck, Bernier had packed his harmonica. They joined in a couple of blues renditions together during one dinner, attracting a crowd and bringing the community closer together.
“I knew Cliff for many years at AAMI. He was a great support to the working groups he managed but mostly what I remember was how creative he was,” added AAMI member Gerry O’Dell. “He even challenged me to do something to develop my creative side by specifically asking what my creative focus was. He was kind, funny, and will be remembered fondly.”
As part of his 2022 farewell to AAMI and the standards world, Bernier composed a poem to celebrate his time in healthcare:
In a beating womb there grows a heart,
a lung, a limb, a machinery of life,
engineered to a tolerance of continents,
tested to an edge of accident,
hurricanes, the minutest particle
that encapsules the greatest risk,
a specification to mitigate a hazard,
a method to fix a malfunction,
a life challenged by mechanics that wear
and a spectrum of time to heal,
to wave a standard that assures the world,
entrusted to a consensus of friends,
livened by an encompassing heart.
Outside of AAMI, Bernier’s passion for the arts left lasting impressions.
You can find his work in The Write Blend poetry circle collection, among other print and online journals and anthologies. Bernier appears on harmonica in the Portuguese Accumulated Dust world music series and is featured on the EP Post-Columbian America. He was featured in readings in Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Buffalo, Detroit, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and the Washington, DC area, including at the Library of Congress, the Arts Club of Washington, George Washington University, and the Bethesda Writer’s Center.
According to Gival Press, “Clifford Bernier is the author of two poetry chapbooks, Earth Suite, The Montserrat Review’s Best Chapbook Summer 2010 and recently nominated for a Library of Virginia award, and Dark Berries, one of The Montserrat Review’s Best Books for Spring Reading 2010.”
In 2011, Bernier published an award-winning poetry book titled The Silent Art, which was acclaimed for taking readers “on a journey through countries, landscapes, musical forms and states of mind.”
In his retirement, he carried on his poetry work, publishing Ocean Suite – a collection of twenty-six poems that “delve into the connections between sound, music, and the language we use to understand our own baffling existence.”
Then, in 2025, Bernier’s work culminated in Wetlands. Praised as a “deceptively gentle chapbook,” it focuses on the region around the James River in Virginia. “The ‘River’ here really is a metaphor,” Bernier explained in the book’s opening lines. “[It is] a locus from which the reader is invited to invent yourself without restrictions.”
Still, throughout all these accomplishments and works, Bernier remembered to keep his friends and colleagues close. At the news of his passing, the community has joined in sharing a multitude of photos and memories, highlighting Bernier as a man of commitment and gentility.