Bob Meistrell
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Robert "Bob" Meistrell (July 31, 1928 – June 16, 2013) was an American businessman, philanthropist, surfer, and diver. Along with his twin brother Bill and business partner Bev Morgan, Meistrell helped develop and market the first commercial
neoprene Neoprene (also polychloroprene) is a family of synthetic rubbers that are produced by polymerization of chloroprene.Werner Obrecht, Jean-Pierre Lambert, Michael Happ, Christiane Oppenheimer-Stix, John Dunn and Ralf Krüger "Rubber, 4. Emulsion Rub ...
wetsuit A wetsuit is a garment worn to provide thermal protection while wet. It is usually made of foamed neoprene, and is worn by surfers, divers, windsurfers, canoeists, and others engaged in water sports and other activities in or on the water. ...
. This evolved into the
Body Glove Body Glove is an American brand of watersports apparel and accessories that was founded in 1953 by twin brothers Bill and Bob Meistrell. The brothers are often credited with inventing the first practical wetsuit in the early 1950s at the back o ...
surf brand, which by 2013 was a $200 million annual enterprise and a leader in the field.


Early life

Sons of a banker who was murdered when they were four,
identical twins Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two e ...
Bob and Bill Meistrell were born in
Boonville, Missouri Boonville is a city and the county seat of Cooper County, Missouri, United States. The population was 7,964 at the 2020 census. The city was the site of a skirmish early in the American Civil War, Civil War, on July 17, 1861. Union forces defeat ...
, on July 31, 1928. The youngest of seven, Meistrell relocated to California with his family at the age of 16. Although Meistrell had not before that time even seen the ocean, he developed a fascination with it in early childhood. He and his brother taught themselves to dive in ponds in Missouri, using a
bicycle pump A bicycle pump is a type of positive-displacement air pump specifically designed for inflating bicycle tires. It has a connection or adapter for use with one or both of the two most common types of valves used on bicycles, Schrader or ...
, a
garden hose A garden hose, hosepipe, or simply hose is a flexible tube used to convey water. There are a number of common attachments available for the end of the hose, such as sprayers and sprinklers (which are used to concentrate water at one point or ...
and a
diving helmet A diving helmet is a rigid head enclosure with a breathing gas supply used in underwater diving. They are worn mainly by professional divers engaged in surface-supplied diving, though some models can be used with scuba equipment. The upper par ...
cobbled from household supplies.


Dive N'Surf and Body Glove

Meistrell graduated from
El Segundo High School El Segundo High School, or ESHS, is a four-year public high school located in El Segundo, California. It is the only secondary school incorporated by El Segundo Unified School District. First built in 1927, the school campus contains 5 main buil ...
and then entered the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
during the
Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
. He was stationed at
Fort Ord Fort Ord is a former United States Army post on Monterey Bay on the Pacific Ocean coast in California, which closed in 1994 due to Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) action. Most of the fort's land now makes up the Fort Ord National Monument, ...
. In 1953, then Los Angeles County
lifeguards A lifeguard is a rescuer who supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, beach, spa, river and lake. Lifeguards are trained in swimming and Cardiopulmonary ...
, he and his brother invested in diver Bev Morgan's surf shop in
Redondo Beach Redondo Beach (Spanish for ) is a coastal city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located in the South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles area. It is one of three adjacent beach cities along the southern portion of Santa Mo ...
, Dive N' Surf. The brothers replaced Morgan's former partner, surfboard shaper Hap Jacobs, buying in with $1,800 borrowed from their mother. Morgan had discovered a rejected design for a two-piece military neoprene wetsuit and was selling this through his shop. The suit was not popular, however, and to begin with, the partners could only afford to work part-time in the store, having to maintain other jobs to support themselves and their fledgling business. Meistrell and his partners focused on making the wetsuit more comfortable by being the first to manufacture wetsuits using neoprene. In the late 1950s, the partners formed a corporation. Morgan wanted to leave the company, and arranged with the brothers to pay off his interest at 30% of the business's assets, a debt they satisfied over a decade by paying Morgan's
alimony Alimony, also called aliment (Scotland), maintenance (England, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Canada, New Zealand), spousal support (U.S., Canada) and spouse maintenance (Australia), is a legal obligation on a person to provide ...
payments to his ex-wife. In 1959, the film ''
Gidget Gidget () is a fictional character created by author Frederick Kohner (based on his teenage daughter, Kathy) in his 1957 novel, ''Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas''. The novel follows the adventures of a teenage girl and her surfing friend ...
'' helped popularize the wetsuit, and as demand rose Meistrell expanded their product line, establishing the Body Glove brand with products for surfers, divers and other water sports athletes in the mid-1960s. In the 1990s, the company moved manufacturing to Thailand. Today, the Meistrell family still owns 25% of Body Glove.


Diving and exploration

In addition to his business enterprise, Meistrell was a diving instructor, including working with celebrities such as
Lloyd Bridges Lloyd Vernet Bridges Jr. (January 15, 1913 – March 10, 1998) was an American film, stage and television actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. He was the father of four children, includi ...
,
Gary Cooper Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, silent screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, ...
,
Charlton Heston Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923 – April 5, 2008) was an American actor. He gained stardom for his leading man roles in numerous Cinema of the United States, Hollywood films including biblical epics, science-fiction f ...
and
Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. Having studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, he rose to prominence as an icon of the British New Wave. He received numerous a ...
to prepare them for roles. Meistrell was also proponent and builder of one-man submarines which he used to search the seabed particular for wreckage. In his explorations, alone or with others, he found off the coast of Catalina a store of jade, off
Palos Verdes The Palos Verdes Peninsula () is a peninsular subregion of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, located within southwestern Los Angeles County, California. It is often called simply "Palos Verdes", and is made up of a group of cities in the Palos ...
a 280-lb stone that resembled anchor stones in use by the Chinese 2,000 years ago, and off Crescent City a cache of gold coins from a sunken
paddle wheel A paddle is a handheld tool with an elongated handle and a flat, widened end (the ''blade'') used as a lever to apply force onto the bladed end. It most commonly describes a completely handheld tool used to propel a human-powered watercraft by p ...
steamer. In the early 1990s, Bob helped found the Catalina Conservancy Divers, a volunteer group involved in the protection and restoration of the waters around the island. Conservancy divers assist academics in studying the aquatic environment, planting sensors, counting species, and an unsuccessful attempt to reestablish the over collected abalone population.interview with Rod Stewart/Mike Davis, CCD board, 1993


Death

Meistrell died on June 16, 2013, of a heart attack at the age of 84 while repairing his boat the ''Disappearance'' in Catalina, before setting off to be the lead boat for a paddleboard race. He was survived by his wife (Patty), three sons (Robbie, Ronnie, Randy), nine grandchildren (Tracey, Matt, Jamie, Nick, Kenna, Robert, Rhoni, Randi, and Makayla) and three great-grandchildren (Mia, Maddox, and Mila).


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meistrell, Bob 1928 births 2013 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople American male divers Identical twins People from Boonville, Missouri United States Army soldiers El Segundo High School alumni American military personnel of the Korean War 20th-century American sportsmen