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Unassuming identical twin-brother surf industrialists from Manhattan Beach, California; cofounders of Body Glove wetsuits. "We're a little Walt Disney Co, without the theme park," Bob once said of the small empire he and his brother built. "Instead, we've got a big ocean."

The Meistrells were born in Boonville, Missouri, in (1928), although Bill was delivered on July 30, and Bill arrived on July 31. They had five older siblings. When the twins were four, their father, an investment banker, was murdered by a former business partner. Their mother remarried, but the new husband was an alcoholic, and she fled with her children to Manhattan Beach in 1944.

At age 14, while still in Boonville, the Meistrell boys crafted a dive helmet from a five-gallon vegetable can, a pane of glass, and tar, which they hooked up to a garden hose connected to a bicycle pump. After moving west, their primary interest was still diving (they bought their first real dive helmet around this time, at a discount rate of $25—the original owner had died while using it), but in 1946 they both began to surf as well.

The Meistrells were small but strong and athletic (5' 7", 150 pounds), and in the two years between high school and getting drafted into the Army, both worked as Los Angeles County lifeguards. While in the service, Bill fought in the Korean War, earning a Bronze Star, while Bob, who had broken his back in a high school football game, was stationed in Ford Ord. It was the only time the brothers were separated for any real length of time.

In 1951, the Meistrells were both given prototype diving wetsuits from Bill's friend Bev Morgan, who produced the first commercial wetsuits that year and not long afterward opened a shop called Dive N' Surf in Redondo Beach. In 1953, for an investment of $1,800, the brothers together became one-third owners of Dive N' Surf, and began selling the occasional diving wetsuit to local surfers—although '50s surfers in general rejected the rubber suits as both uncomfortable and unmanly. In 1957, the brothers became sole owners of Dive N' Surf, and once surfing wetsuits became popular the company was by far the most popular wetsuit maker in Southern California, among divers and surfers both. Dive N' Surf was hired to outfit the actors in the TV show "Sea Hunt," and Meistrell brothers also gave dive lessons to Gary Cooper, Charlton Heston, and Richard Harris, among other Hollywood stars.

The Meistrells founded Body Glove in 1965 (the line was initially called Thermocline), just a few years after the general surfing population at last did an about-face on wetsuit use. Body Glove, also located in Redondo, went on to become an industry leader, second only to O'Neill Wetsuits.

Over their lifetimes, the Meistrells owned 45 boats together. Early on, they were part of a salvage team that recovered $5 million in gold coins from the Brother Jonathan, a steamer that went down off the coast of Crescent City, California.

The Meistrells were both inducted into the Diving Hall of Fame in 1990; in 2004 their names were added to the Surfers Walk of Fame in Hermosa Beach. In 2010, Bob was named Redondo Beach's "Man of the Year."

Bill Meistrell died in 2006, at age 77, from Parkinson's disease. Bob died in 2013, at age 84, of a heart attack, while repairing his boat near Catalina Island. The following year, a life-sized bronze statue of the brothers was unveiled at Seaside Lagoon, in Redondo.

Robbie Meistrell, Bob's son, ran the Professional Surfing Association of America in the late '80s and early '90s. Since the early '80s, Robbie has served as GM, president, and CEO of both Dive N' Surf and Body Glove.

Meistrell brothers, Bob and Bill

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

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