Bruno Hans Geba's career took him from psychology to training U.S. Olympic skiers to writing books, said wife Penelope "Penei" Geba. Career of isle writer, professor
exemplified ‘Renaissance man’BRUNO HANS GEBA / 1927-2001
OBITUARIES
By Kelliann Shimote
kshimote@starbulletin.comShe described her husband as "a true Renaissance man."
Kona resident Jim Hinch, Bruno Geba's friend for seven years, said: "He was a really amazing man. His depth of knowing and his interests in scientific things mostly made him different than anyone I've ever known."
Geba died from cancer July 27 at his Kona home. He was 74.
Geba was born on March 8, 1927, in Salzburg, Austria.
"His dream was to come to the New World and start a new life," Penelope Geba said. "He wanted to end up living someplace with palm trees and beaches."
After World War II, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in medical science, psychology and physical education from the University of Vienna in Austria. Then he taught at the University of Tehran in Iran. He also served as an adviser to the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education.
He later returned to the University of Vienna, where he received both his master's and doctoral degrees.
In 1955 he was invited to the United States to serve as a consultant for the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. At about the same time, he received his American doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Colorado. He was director of the institute's health center until 1962.
While in Aspen, Penelope Geba said, he trained the U.S. men's and women's Olympic ski teams and coached the International Professional Ski Racers Association.
He later published three books dedicated to finding inner peace.
In 1966 he started a private practice as a psychotherapist in San Francisco. He later became a professor at San Diego State University, then retired in 1992 and moved to Hawaii.
"He was highly intellectual and very creative," Penelope Geba said.
"He always read ... on scientific things and theories," Hinch said. "One of his interests were the pyramids (in Egypt), and he would read those and discuss those at length."
Geba's hobbies also included gardening, golfing, landscaping, sculpting, tennis and swimming.
"He was an athlete to the end," said Keoki Jenkins, a friend of Geba's for five years. "He was swimming six miles a day even though he was in his early 70s."
A memorial will be held Aug. 19 at Kahikolu Congregational Church in Kona at 1 p.m. Donations can be made to the Hospice of Kona at P.O. Box 2171, Kailua-Kona, HI 96745.
He is survived by his wife, sons Dorian and Peter Geba, stepsons, stepdaughters, three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
"He truly believed in me and considered the years we lived together were the greatest years of his life, and it's the same for me," Penelope Geba said.