Short answers, pulled from the story.
David Joel Stern entered the world on the 22nd of September 1942 in Manhattan. His family lived in Teaneck, New Jersey where his father ran a Jewish delicatessen in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.
Stern served as lead attorney representing the law firm Proskauer Rose in the landmark lawsuit brought against the NBA by star player Oscar Robertson. He helped negotiate a settlement that allowed the NBA ABA merger to proceed while abolishing the option clause in player contracts.
By 2004 the number of teams reached 30 after adding franchises like the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies in 1995. David Stern officially became Commissioner of the NBA on the 1st of February 1984 and stepped down from that position on the 1st of February 2014.
Despite public fear regarding transmission through sweat or handshakes Stern allowed Johnson to play in the 1992 NBA All-Star Game and later for the Dream Team. He helped inform owners and sponsors about the virus while putting infection-control procedures in place.
David Stern died in Manhattan on the 1st of January 2020 at age 77. He suffered a brain hemorrhage on the 12th of December 2019 and underwent emergency surgery before passing away.