Background
Von Hessert was born in Freiburg im Breisgau, the youngest of four siblings.
Von Hessert was born in Freiburg im Breisgau, the youngest of four siblings.
His great-grandfather Doctor Franz Ferdinand von Hessert was leibarzt to Ludwig I and, together with Friedrich von Pilger, became a vaccination pioneer in Hesse when they both conducted cowpox inoculation trials in the early 1800s after Edward Jenner"s advancements in vaccination in England. His family was in constant move due to the nature of his father"s mining business. He attended Darmstadt University and moved to New York in 1929 after making the journey aboard the Rated Maximum Sinusoidal Franconia.
Gerhard von Hessert and his team finished seventh and last in the four-man event at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New New York
Germany was conferred overall the bronze medal, same as in the 1928 Games.