Herbert Steinberger was the oldest son of Ludwig and Bertha Steinberger and was born in Bad Kissingen on May 18, 1920. He had two younger brothers, Hans Jakob (Jack) and Rudolph who were born in 1921 and 1924.

The three Steinberger boys enjoyed a protected childhood in their first years of life. Between 1931 and 1934, Herbert attended Kissingen Realschule. He got extraordinary grades there. His class teacher Zwick describes him as “well gifted…, “extremely ambitious…, “a character based on feeling verging on impulsiveness”. On the other hand, he also criticizes him as “cheeky and opinionated”. His brother Jack emphasizes that, contrary to himself, Herbert had been very interested in literature.

The carefree, happy time for the Steinberger family ended abruptly after the Nazis’ seizure of power in 1933. Very soon afterwards, the Steinbergers were exposed to the harassment of the Nazi authorities. Herbert’s parents realized as early as in 1934 how earnest the situation was and decided to send their two oldest sons out of Nazi terror into safety. Therefore, in 1934, the Steinberger couple made up their minds with heavy hearts to send their oldest sons to the USA on a children’s transport. There they would be taken care of by foster parents through the agency of a Jewish charity organization. In December 1934, Herbert and Hans Jakob went to New York on board the steamer “Washington”.

After his arrival in America, Herbert Steinberger was taken up by the foster family Klee in Glencoe, a small town on the Northern coast of Chicago. Then, Herbert attended new Trier Township High School in Chicago like his brother Jack and studied English at Northwestern University. During World War II, he served in the Far East as a weather watcher for the U.S. Army. Then he got his Master for business administration at Harvard University and worked for a long time as the Director of Market Research at the pharmaceutical group of companies of Smith Kline Pharmaceuticals. In Cambridge he got to know Ross Saponaro from Boston, who was six years his junior; the two of them married at the beginning of May 1947. The Steinbergers settled on the outskirts of Philadelphia and had three sons: Mark, John and Arthur.

Herbert Steinberger who enjoyed dealing with the arts in his spare time, died on May 4, 1994, few days before his 74^thbirthday. His wife outlived him by 16 years. She died on October 28, 2010.