Hans Geissler was born one of ten children in rural Germany during the Second World War. Following a stint in the French Foreign legion, where he fought in Algeria, he immigrated to the US in 1963.
After building a successful plumbing and contracting business, he turned his attention to boat building in the mid 1970's, creating a new style of catamaran sail boats known as G-Cats. He chose to close his company in 1994, after having built over 2000 boats, to pursue a philanthropic endeavor with Morningstar Fishermen and the Race Against World Hunger.