George N. Meissner was born May 28, 1872, in Bunker Hill, Il. He
moved to St. Louis in 1890, serving as secretary of the McKinney Baking
Company from 1893 until its sale in 1911 to the General Baking Company
of New York City. He continued as a director of General Baking Company
until his retirement in 1928. In retirement he pursued his civic and
collecting interests, assembling, primarily during the 1930's and
1940's, the collection of approximately 2500 printed items and 350
manuscript items given by his family to found the George N. Meissner
Memorial Rare Book Department at Washington University. Mr. Meissner
died in 1960 at the age of 87.
