[1] Born in La Neuville-aux-Bois in Lorraine, Bernier was orphaned by his father at 11 years and without a proper education, he vacillated between many jobs before fighting in the Indochina Wars for 28 months.

On his return he worked in the press, and rose through the ranks to take the position of sales manager of the satirical newspaper Zéro.

In addition to his role of patron of Éditions du Square, Bernier also invested time in writing and photo-editing for Hara Kiri.

[3] Other magazines published by Bernier's Editions du Square were the monthly comic Charlie Mensuel, one of the first ecological journals La Gueule ouverte, Mords-y l'œil, Surprise from designer Bernard Willem Holtrop, and Jean-Patrick Manchette's BD, l'hebdo de la BD.

[1] He died 10 January 2005 at Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital in Paris[3] and was buried at Montparnasse Cemetery alongside his wife Odile Vaudelle (1934–1985).