Russ Lesser was raised in Manhattan Beach close to the water and remembers body surfing and riding waves on inflated pillows in the days before surfing was a thing. Turns out that most of his career was spent near the beach – literally and figuratively.

Here’s his story:

Lesser in 1962 struck up a friendship with Bill and Bob Meistrell, legendary brothers who owned a shop named Dive N’ Surf in Redondo Beach. At the time, Lesser was attending California State University – Long Beach with the aim of becoming an accountant.

“We became friends, and they told me that when I became a CPA they would give me their accounting work,” Lesser recalled. “They did in 1966.”

Years ticked by, and Lesser got involved in civic affairs. He was elected to the Manhattan Beach City Council in 1978 and ’82, serving as mayor for two years.

“I was asked to run again and declined, saying, ‘If two terms were enough for George Washington, they’re enough for me,’” he said.

After he got off the City Council, he was elected managing partner of his CPA firm. “We grew quite a bit over the years 1986 to 1990 and were then one of the largest single-office CPA firms west of the Mississippi River with 12 partners and over 100 staff. However, I was not having a lot of fun.”

Meanwhile, the Meistrell twins had come up with an innovation: they had created the first commercially viable neoprene wetsuit. That allowed surfers and divers to stay relatively warm in California’s cold waters.

“We had a discussion one day about how to build the business and decided to go into the wholesale business of making wetsuits and selling them to surf shops,” Lesser said. “Before that, the only way you could get a wetsuit was to go into the Dive N’ Surf shop and get measured up and buy it.”

So, the Meistrells bought a factory and started making wetsuits for surf shops under the private labels of other retailers. Eventually they decided to take the next step and create their own brand, Body Glove, which still markets wetsuits and related gear.

By the late ’80s, Body Glove took yet another step and started licensing goods, thanks largely to the experience Lesser had gotten by working with Ocean Pacific, one of his accounting firm clients, which did a good deal of licensing work.

“In 1990 the Meistrells felt they needed some additional in-house management, and they offered me the job as president,” Lesser recounted. “As I was not having a lot of fun being managing partner (of the CPA firm), I accepted the job and also was able to buy some stock in Body Glove, making me the only shareholder other than the family members.

“Between 1990 and 2016, we built the licensing business substantially, signing licenses for many new categories of products, including men’s and women’s swimwear and apparel, fins, masks and snorkels, body boards, standup paddleboards, eyewear, footwear, socks, underwear, watches and even cellphone cases. Amazingly that category has grown to about $50 million in sales,” he added.

Also, they kept the original Dive N’ Surf retail store. In 2016, they sold controlling interest of the company to a New York investment bank that wanted to build a licensing business of various brands.

“This has worked well for the five Meistrell family members (and my wife and me) who still receive a nice check each year.

“We still own the retail store, and I am president of the company. However, while running Body Glove was about a 60-hour a week job, running Dive N’ Surf is not so demanding, and I am in the office about 20 hours a week,” Lesser continued.

“I turned 83 on Oct. 28 but see no reason to quit working. I am on the board of Reef Check, which is an organization that helps protect and restore coral reefs around the world, and also was elected to be a member of the 66th Assembly District Republican Central Committee.

“I don’t want to wind up like some people I know who have retired and don’t really seem to have a purpose in life anymore,” he said.