Geist was born April 11, 1914, in Paterson, New Jersey,[1][2] and graduated from Eastside High School in 1931.

[5] Geist served in the United States Army in Europe from 1944 through 1945, the final years of World War II.

[5] Geist returned to Europe after the war, attending the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and exhibiting at the Galerie Huit.

[1] Geist was a writer, contributing to Art Digest, Artforum, and The New Criterion.

He was one of the founders of the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture.