Bernie Zaleha

Who is Bernie Zaleha?

Bernard Daley Zaleha, J.D., served two terms on the national board of directors of the Sierra Club. He was first elected by the national membership in April 2003, and was re-elected in April 2006. From March 2004 to May 2006, he served as the 62nd national Vice President of the club. He has been an environmental activist with the Sierra Club and other organizations since 1981. He also serves as Vice President of the Constitutional Law Foundation.

Zaleha is a graduate of California State University, San Bernardino in 1983, receiving his bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies and Physical Geography - graduating first in his class. He received his Juris Doctor in 1987, magna cum laude, from Lewis and Clark College’s Northwestern School of Law, with a certificate in Environmental and Natural Resource Law. While at Lewis and Clark Law School, Zaleha served as the Executive Director of the Northwest Environmental Defense Center in Portland, Oregon. He received his Master of Arts in Religion at the University of Florida in 2008. His thesis is entitled “The Only Paradise We Ever Need”: An Investigation into Pantheism’s Sacred Geography in the Writings of Edward Abbey, Thomas Berry, and Matthew Fox, and a Preliminary Survey of Signs of Emerging Pantheism in American Culture.