Maestri was born in San Francisco, California. After graduating from High school he worked at Mare Island as a tool and die maker for the Navy and several years later attended San Jose State on a basketball scholarship. During WWII, he was stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii where he served as Director of Personnel for Ford Island until the war ended. There he joined the Dole Pineapple Corporation in Public Relations and got married in Hawaii. Frank was transferred to San Jose in 1956 to establish an Industrial Relations organization. Additionally, he served as President of the Euramerica Foods, an Italian food canning operation in which Dole had financial interests. Frank was very active in the California Processors & Growers Assoc., an employer union relations organization now known as Cal