George Napper was born on 7 July 1939 in Alameda County, California, USA. He was married to Imogene "Chi" Delores Winston. He died on 2 October 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Served in the Marine Corps and earned a Ph.D. degree in criminology from the University of California at Berkeley where he also helped organize and served as president of UC Berkeley's Black Student Union.