Born in Dresden, Germany in 1911 Gerard attended Realschule Teachers Seminar College and then obtained Diploma Industrie & Handelskammer ID Textil Design, completing his studies in 1995.

Fleeing Nazi Germany in 1939, Gerard served with the Australian Military Services from 1939-1945. His manuscripts of this service with the Labour Battalion at Albury were accessioned into the Australian War Memorial Private Records Collection in 1995.

At the end of the war Gerard took job as an art director at Prestige Limited in Melbourne. In the Prestige Fabrics Design Studio Gerard was involved in the development of designs and printing manufacture that would revolutionise the look of Australian fabrics and fashion.

Whilst working at Prestige, Gerard conducted evening classes at the Melbourne Technical College School of Art from 1951. In 1955 he left Prestige and began part time teaching at Melbourne Technical College, later to become RMIT.

In 1960 he was appointed Principal Lecturer at RMIT Department of Industrial Design.

Upon his retirement in 1976, students of Gerard Herbst reflected on his contribution to the Department of Design. He was described as a teacher and mentor who "fought apathy, ignorance and reaction with great courage, dedication and extraordinary energy".

From 1969 Gerard was listed on the regular schedule of guest lecturers at the Pratt Institute in New York. He received the L’ordre Du ’Merite Culturel’ Warsaw in 1986 and was awarded the RMIT Centenary Medallion in 1987. A prolific writer, Gerard has also been responsible for the formation of a collection of over 2000 posters, representing a selection of design from the last 40 years.

The collection provides an overview of contemporary poster design practice in Europe with a smaller amount of material from the USA, Japan, Asia and Australia. This collection was given to The University of Melbourne in 1996.

The list of Gerard’s accomplishments continues: he has written articles, contributed to international exhibitions, served on the Standing Committee for Visual Communication at the University of Melbourne, received local and international film awards for a documentary on the Australian Textile Industry and conducted international lecture tours in Mexico, Chicago, L.A. and Florence.