George Newell Armsby II was born in San Francsico on 29 May, 1908, son of George Newell Armsby, Chairman of the Board of Curtiss-Wright Corporation and member of the Board of Sperry Gyroscope in New York City. He was divorced by Newell's mother, Leonora, in 1929, she received a one million dollar settlement and moved to San Francisco where her son was attending Stanford University. He used the name Newell Armsby in California where he married Ruth Whitaker Proctor in March of 1952 in Auburn, CA. In 1940 he was listed as a photographer living in Los Angeles, Ca. after finishing 4 years of College Stanford University earlier.

In 1950 he is listed as working in San Francisco for the Bohemian Club. Newell Armsby died in Larkspur, Marin County, California on July 2, 1978.