Joachim O.R. Nuthack was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1936. Between 1943 and 1945 Joachim and his sister Christel went to live with their father's aunt and uncle, Martha and Leopold Lingstaedt, in Eastern Pomerania, because of increasing allied bombing of Berlin. Nuthack immigrated to Canada in 1952 and moved to Edmonton. He married his wife Judy in 1960. Joachim and Judy went to Germany in 1985 and again in 2005 to take a tour of the country after the re-unification. Both have been members of the Alberta Genealogy Society since 1975 and Joachim has served a number of positions in the Society. He is also the author of What's in Relatively Speaking? A Comprehensive index of volumes 1 to 10. (1984). Nuthack is also an avid translator.

Joachim and Judy currently reside in Edmonton and have three children: Richard, Bernie, and Francine.