When John James Meister was born on 11 September 1919, in New York, United States, his father, John Henry Meister, was 27 and his mother, Johanna F Murphy, was 17. He lived in Queens, New York, United States in 1930 and Queens, New York City, New York, United States in 1940. He died on 17 May 2003, at the age of 83, and was buried in Calverton, Riverhead, Suffolk, New York, United States.