San Francisco County
Biographies
FRANK R.
GEIS
Widely known as a metallurgist and consulting chemist, Frank R. Geis is now engaged in conducting his own laboratories at 604 Mission street in San Francisco. He is a native of Dwight, Illinois, where his birth occurred March 17, 1895, and he is a son of John and Mary (Schmidt) Geis, the former, who was a cigar manufacturer, now being deceased.
Mr. Geis completed the grade and high school courses by graduation from the latter in 1913. He then entered the Armour Institute of Technology in Chicago, where he took special courses in preparation for the work he is now doing. After finishing his studies, he was first employed by the Charles C. Kahn Company of Chicago, Illinois, for a period of three years, and was assigned by that firm to San Francisco in 1915 for the purpose of opening an office for them in this city. This was the year of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. He continued in the service of this concern until they sold their interests on the coast, after which, in partnership with William Mulcahy, he established his own laboratories. This was in the year 1929, and during the comparatively few years intervening between that date and the present their business has increased to very large proportions. Their equipment is of the most modern type, and they are enabled to make the most complicated analyses.
Mr. Geis’ reputation in San Francisco is not alone based on his skill as a metallurgist, but on his activities in association circles and in athletics. He is secretary of the Pacific Association of Northern California, which now comprises over three thousand registered members. He became interested in local athletics when he first came to San Francisco. At that time, he joined Mission Council No. 3 of the Young Men’s Institute and became the chairman of its board of athletic control in 1919. He organized the Comets, a basketball team, which later became the first Young Men’s Institute team, and was the beginning of the long period of leadership this institute has enjoyed in this realm of sports. He is commissioner of women’s athletics for northern California, and is a member of the Women’s Track and Field American Olympic committee. He is president of the Lansdale Athletic Club. He was secretary of the Pacific Basketball League during the first two years of its existence.
On August 21, 1919, Mr. Geis was married to Miss Vera Cox, who was born in San Francisco, and is a daughter of James and Mary Cox.
In politics, Mr. Geis gives his support to the republican party. He is a fourth degree member of the Knights of Columbus, and has been a very active figure in the affairs of this order. Athletics may be termed his favorite recreation, but he is likewise devoted to hunting and fishing and takes every opportunity to indulge in these diversions. He is popular within the circles in which he moves, and in activities of civic character he has been a loyal participant.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Byington, Lewis Francis, “History of
San Francisco 3 Vols”, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1931. Vol. 3 Pages 82-84.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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