Gary Galsworth was born in the New York City area and grew up, with his younger sister, Gwendolyn, in the city of Long Branch on the Jersey shore. Their Swiss father, Donato (a gourmet chef), and Brooklyn-born mother, Geraldine, bought a big white, clapboard house and began their plan to turn it into a restaurant. But a massive heart attack when Donato was 50 brought that dream to a close. Geraldine became main-breadwinner, and the house became a maze of rented rooms. Donato looked after the house and children in his own eccentric way. Life took on a predictable if stressful routine, dotted with two major house moves. Gary and Gwen grew up.
At 18, Gary ran off to the Marine Corps which, among many other things, gave him a chance to visit Europe and Japan. After the Marines, Gary studied painting and filmmaking at the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Chicago. His 16mm films were shown at the Whitney Museum in New York City.
Several life-changing events then happened within a short-period of time. Gary began meditate. He began to write poetry—though told no one. He had a daughter, Ondine, with Chilean artist, Mimi. And he decided to learn plumbing in order to provide for his family in a more reliable way than free-lance film-making would allow.
Over the years, Gary became a master plumber, running his own successful business in the New York City area under the name “Gary da Plumber.” The local guys he had trained at the beginning became successful with him. Along the way, he married Janis Levine, had a son, Daniel, and lived in Hoboken, New Jersey. Gary’s meditation practice matured, and he began to hold classes in that city. Many of the people who began with him then continue to this day—only now online. The podcasts on this website are of those sessions.
Gary now lives with his second wife, Carol, a nurse practitioner in Providence, Rhode Island. He often visits Hoboken where Ondine, a successful real estate broker, and Daniel, an electrical engineers, filmmaker and musician, now live—and young Boone, Ondine’s son.