James Donovan Geissinger MD

Born in Pueblo, Colorado on February 23, 1937, he was the first born of Cynthia Ruth Geissinger and James D. Geissinger.

Jim attended college at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois where he received his BA degree. He later received his BS degree in medicine from the University of South Dakota, and an M.D. degree upon graduation from Northwestern University in Chicago in 1963.

After having served one year of internship and one year of a general surgical residency at Passavant Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Dr. Geissinger entered the U.S. Air Force as a captain. During the Vietnam War, Jim served as a general surgeon in Albany, GA at Turner Air Force Base, a bomber wing in the Strategic Air Command.

After completion of his military service, he spent a year of residency training in clinical neurology at the University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City after which he returned to Northwestern University in Chicago to complete residency training in neurological surgery.

In 1971 Dr. Geissinger joined Dr. Frank Davis, the only neurosurgeon in Tallahassee and Dr. Brian Robinson, the only neurologist, as a third member of the Tallahassee Neurological Clinic. For the ensuing eighteen years Drs. Geissinger and Davis were the only two neurosurgeons covering the Florida Panhandle from Jacksonville to Pensacola in addition to South Georgia and South Alabama. They were also the neurological consultants to the Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee.

Dr. Geissinger and Dr. Davis endeavored to remain current and maintain high standards of practice for most of all adult and pediatric surgical conditions affecting the nervous system of practice. Among many other advances they were credited with being the first to use the surgical laser in Tallahassee; of performing intracranial vascular bypass surgery and finally, of introducing the use of stereotactic surgery to approach deep brain structures, impossible by other means. They also felt that it was important to maintain high academic standards, hence they coauthored several well received scientific papers in peer-reviewed neurological journals. Dr. Geissinger also always felt that as a community neurosurgeon he was honored to have been invited as a guest examiner on the American Board of Neurological Surgery in 1984, a position ordinally occupied by university professors.

Professional organizations of which he as a member included: the American Medical Association, the Florida Medical Association, the Florida Neurosurgical Society, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, and the Society of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery. He was also a

Diplomat of the American Board of Neurological Surgery and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Other medical activities have included being an active board member of the Brian Robinson Neurological Foundation at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital and presenting lectures in neurological surgery to the medical students at Florida State University College of Medicine. In 2012 Dr. Geissinger was awarded the prestigious IB Harrison Award by the Capital Medical Society.

Because of illness he was forced to retire prematurely from neurosurgery in 1992. His post-retirement years were then occupied initially by raising Beefmaster cattle on his ranch in Monticello, Florida, and later building fine furniture, which upon occasion he had formally exhibited. In recent years he has published two books, Memoirs of a Neurosurgeon and a book of scientific fiction, The Balancer. Dr. Geissinger, and his wife have been members of the Trinity United Methodist Church of Tallahassee for over 29 years.

Dr. Geissinger is survived by his wife of 27 years, Elaine Figueroa Geissinger of Tallahassee, brother Gary A. Geissinger (Marsha) of Lafayette, Colorado: daughter Kim Berje (Alvaro) of Dunedin, Florida; son Jeffrey Geissinger of Post Falls, Idaho; son Roger Geissinger (Joelle), of Spokane Valley, WA; and daughter Gretchen Geissinger, of Jacksonville, FL. He is also survived by stepchildren Lisi Aspros (Joy), Natalia Stafford (Chris), George Aspros (Sam), Angela Brown (Scott), Eddie and Brandon Thomas. Dr. Geissinger leaves behind eight grandchildren and four step grandchildren. Dr. Geissinger was preceded in death by is late wives, Robinette L. Maynard of Post Falls, Idaho, and Valencia B. Geissinger of Tallahassee, and brother Richard C. Geissinger of Boca Raton, Florida.

A Celebration of life service will be held at 10:00AM, on Feb 7, 2026, at Trinity United Methodist Church, 120 W. Park Ave, Tallahassee, with a reception following the service. An inurnment ceremony will be held at Culley’s MeadowWood at 2PM.

Services at Trinity United Methodist Church will be live streamed using this link https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b_jn1ZM3NbM

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be directed to the Capital Medical Society Foundation Food Pantry via online gifts at capmed.org/donate. The pantry supports food insecurity for students at the FSU College of Medicine Tallahassee Regional Campus. For questions or more information please call the CMS Foundation office directly at 850 877 9018.