Ernest Bamberger was born on August 11, 1877, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Jacob Emanuel and Bertha Greenewald Bamberger. Ernest was the son of Jacob Bamberger, a German Jew who emigrated to the United States with his brother Simon in the mid-nineteenth-century; Simon and Jacob settled in Utah in 1869 and 1875, respectively. The Bambergers established themselves in the mining industry, purchasing gold, copper, silver, and coal mines across Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Oregon, and Alaska; additionally, they developed oil fields in California. Beyond the family's mining interests, Simon Bamberger founded the Salt Lake and Ogden Railway Company, later the Bamberger Electric Railroad and Transportation Company, in 1890, and was a partial owner of the . Simon Bamberger was also active in politics, and in 1916 was elected Utah's first Democrat and Jewish governor.

Ernest Bamberger graduated from Columbia University in 1900 with a degree in mining engineering. In 1903, he married Eleanor Francis Dooly. With his brother, Clarence, Ernest took over the family's interests in silver mines in Park City, Utah and a coal mine in Coalville, Utah, as well as mines in Nevada, Colorado, and Oregon. While his uncle Simon and cousin Julian were active in the Democrat Party, Ernest Bamberger entered politics as a Republican. He was involved in local, state, and national Republican Party political lobbying. Between 1920 and 1924, Ernest represented Utah in the Republican National Committee, and he ran for the United States Senate in 1922 and 1928. Ernest died on January 11, 1958, at the age of 80.