Albert Lestoque was born Albert Leser on April 20, 1892 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, the eldest son of well-to-do Jewish parents, Wilhelm and Helene Leser. Albert expressed an early interest in writing, however, since writing was not considered a proper profession at that time by either his immediate family or friends, Albert chose to follow in his father's footsteps and pursue a legal career. (In a letter to Will Schaber, dated February 13, 1939 [Albert Lestoque Papers], Albert stated that he turned to the study of law partly because of the fact that no other course of study attracted him, but also because of the practical possibilities a career in law could provide.)

Albert Leser pursued his legal studies at the Universities of Freiburg, Heidelberg, Bonn and finally Marburg, where he passed his doctorate exams in 1917 -- interrupted by service in the German army during World War I -- and passed the Assessor's exam in Berlin in the summer of 1920. During the next years, Albert practiced law, first as an Assessor and later as a prosecuting attorney, in Frankfurt am Main, Limburg and Wiesbaden until in 1933, because of his Jewish ancestry, he was deprived of his right to practice law in Germany. In the fall of 1934, realizing that a return to Germany was no longer possible for them, the Lesers established a second residence in Denmark. Finally, in 1937, Albert Leser, together with his wife and two young children, immigrated to the United States. Shortly after arriving in the U.S., Albert officially changed his name from Albert Leser to Albert Lestoque, a name he had used earlier in his writing career.

Albert Lestoque did not attempt to continue his legal career after emigrating to the U.S., but decided to pursue his writing career full-time. His only published novel, Menschen in Aktendeckeln, was published in German in 1939. After relocating to Denver, Colorado in 1941, Lestoque continued to write novels (none of which were published), prose and poetry, but he spent most of his time lecturing groups on topics such as the evils of National Socialism, crime and juvenile delinquency, democracy and peace. His most famous lecture, "American by Choice", first delivered on May 21, 1944, was reprinted numerous times.

After the end of World War II and the defeat of Germany, Albert Lestoque focused his energies almost entirely on trying to recover the family properties, which had been seized by the National Socialists in 1938. As the oldest of the three Leser siblings (brother Paul Leser and sister Maria Lingemann), Albert was the primary custodian of the family estate in the Plittersdorf section of Bonn, Germany. Albert's fight against the German government to regain his family's property and receive restitution (Wiedergutmachung) for himself, his siblings and his heirs, became the major focus of Albert's later years. Albert Lestoque died on November 19, 1960, shortly after the major restitution case against the German government (Deutsches Reich) was decided in his family's favor.