Berner was born on January 27, 1902 in Stuttgart, Württemberg, German Empire. He moved to France after his parents' deaths. Berner was married to Margaret Berner from 1936 until her death in 1987. They had one daughter, Emily Berner. Berner died on January 7, 2013 (just 20 days before his 111th birthday) in Middle Village, Queens, New York of natural causes at age 110 years, 346 days. At the time of his death, Berner was the second-oldest German man ever behind Hermann Dörnemann (who later became surpassed by Gustav Gerneth), the third-oldest living Americanman behind Spanish-born Salustiano Sanchez (who, however, was still not verified) and Canadian-born James McCoubrey, and the 7th oldest living man in the world (behind Jiroemon Kimura, James Sisnett, Sanchez, McCoubrey, Makaru Nakanishi and Jokichi Ikarashi who was just a day older).