Walter González González (June 1, 1924 - October 17, 1979) was a Bolivian civil and structural engineer. He was the first Fulbright Scholar from Bolivia. He was president of the Society of Bolivian Engineers (Sociedad de Ingenieros de Bolivia), a Dean of the school of civil engineering at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres in La Paz, Bolivia, and Chief Engineer for the Alto Beni Project.

Early Life in Bolivia

Walter González González (sometimes rendered Walter Gonzales Gonzales) was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia, on June 1, 1924, the oldest of five children of Walter Gonzales Mendez and Mercedes Gonzales. His father was a pianist, ensemble leader and music teacher. His mother's family owned the Lobo Ranch prior to the Bolivian National Revolution of 1952, which promulgated the expropriation of landed estates. Walter Gonzalez attended Colegio Bolivar in his hometown of Cochabamba. From an early age, his father taught him to play the violin. He attended the local Conservatory for additional instruction. Gonzalez's father was a friend of Eduardo Laredo, father of Jaime Laredo. In 1952, Gonzalez performed with the Bolivian National Youth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jaime Mendoza-Nava. As a young man, Walter Gonzalez was offered a scholarship to the Juilliard School, which he declined, preferring instead to study civil engineering at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres in La Paz, Bolivia. He received his degree in 1952. His diploma was signed by Dr. Victor Paz Estenssoro, the president of Bolivia.^[1] As the top student in his graduating class, Walter Gonzalez was awarded the inaugural Premio Vicente Burgaleta, named after the Spanish-born founder and first dean of the Universidad Mayor de San Andres (UMSA) school of engineering.^[1] The award was poigniantly significant for two additional reasons: (1) Burgaleta had been Gonzalez's mentor during his university days, and (2) Burgaleta had passed away earlier in 1952. In 1954, Gonzalez received a faculty appointment as the professor of Projective Geometry at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres school of engineering.

In 1955, Walter Gonzalez was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He earned a M.S. in Civil Engineering and pursued advanced coursework in structural engineering.^[2] In September 1958, Gonzalez represented the Society of Bolivian Engineers as a delegate to the Pan American Federation of Engineering Societies held in Montreal, Canada. ^[3] He returned to Bolivia in 1959. In 1960, Gonzalez received a faculty appointment as the professor of Structures and Pre-stressed Concrete at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres school of engineering.

Marriage and family

Walter Gonzalez married Nelly Sfeir Cabero in 1952. At the civil wedding ceremony, Hugo Mancilla Romero, Dean of the UMSA school of engineering, was one of the witnesses. The religious wedding ceremony was held at the Chapel of Colegio La Salle on Loayza Street in La Paz. The couple had five sons. Two were medical doctors, one an MBA, one a lawyer, and one a CPA. The family emigrated to the United States in 1967, making their home in Urbana, Illinois.^[2] His wife Nelly Sfeir Gonzalez was a university librarian,^[2] award-winning bibliographer,^[2][4] and founding editor of the Bolivian Studies Journal.^[5] Son Mauricio Gonzalez Sfeir, a graduate of Harvard Business School, served as Secretary of Energy of Bolivia. Son Javier Gonzalez-Sfeir, a graduate of Harvard Law School, served on the Board of Directors of the Bolivian American Chamber of Commerce.^[6] Granddaughter Dr. Andrea Gonzalez-Karpovics was honored as the Resident of the Year by the Hispanic National Medical Association.^[7] Grandson Xavier Gonzalez, a mathematician and computational neuroscientist, was the first Bolivian American Rhodes Scholar.^[8] In middle age, Walter Gonzalez resumed playing the violin in public. He was first violinist for the Champaign-Urbana Civic Symphony Orchestra in the 1970s.^[2] In 1994, in honor of her deceased husband, Nelly Sfeir Gonzalez established the Premio Ing. Walter Gonzalez a la Excelencia Académica for the top civil engineering student in the graduating class at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres.^[1] The prize has been awarded continuously for more than 25 years.

Career Highlights

In 1959, upon his return from post gradute studies in the United States, Gonzalez was hired as Chief Engineer by the Corporacion Boliviana de Fomento. From 1961 to 1966, Gonzalez served as the Chief Engineer of the Alto Beni Development Project (a joint venture between the Alliance for Progress and the Corporacion Boliviana de Fomento), leading a team that built the first roads that connected Bolivia's capital city of La Paz to the sparsely populated tropical plains of the Alto Beni region (for example, the roads from Caranavi to Santa Ana de Mosetenes and from Santa Ana to Mayaya and Santa Ana to Covendo).^[1][9] These roads cut through thick virgin forest and the initial trail blazing was conducted on muleback by Gonzalez, with the assistance of local rancher Federico Elena and Bolivian army lieutenant Julio Trigo and his contingent of machete-wielding conscripts. For some of the way they uncovered what remained of the long-abandoned Jesuit cattle path from the 18th century. Gonzalez also directed the construction of the staging encapment, the Caranavi Hospital, the airplane landing strip at Santa Ana, numerous schools and clinics and other infrastructure. Furthermore, he was responsible for promoting the colonization of the area with settlers from the altiplano and establishing centers for agricultural production and the fishery at Piquendo. Under his responsibility, he sought assistance from USAID and Captain Lane "Gerry" Borg to successfully eradicate the "mal de pinto" (a venereal disease that caused the skin of those infected to turn blue) affecting one group of local tribesmen. In October 1964, Gonzalez received a formal invitation from Ramiro Paz Cerruto, son of President Victor Paz Estenssoro, to join the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR) political party; however, Gonzalez politely declined preferring to remain an apolitical technocrat. Only three weeks later, President Victor Paz Estenssoro was deposed in a coup d'etat by his own vice president, General Rene Barrientos--1964 Bolivian coup d'etat. In August 1965, Gonzalez represented Bolivia at the Meeting of Latin American Governments Members of CIME in Montevideo, Uruguay. During his years at the Corporacion Bolivian de Fomento, Gonzalez forged strong friendships with Adolfo Linares Arraya (later, the founder and first president of the CAF--Corporacion Andina de Fomento, a Latin American development bank) and Colonel Julio Sanjines Goytia (founder of the Escuela Militar de Ingenieria and successor to Linares as president of the CAF).

Walter Gonzalez served as president of the Society of Bolivian Engineers (Sociedad de Ingenieros de Bolivia) in 1965–1966.^[1] From 1966 to 1967, Gonzalez served as Dean of the School of Engineering at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres.^[2] During this time, he was a close ally and supporter of Hugo Mancilla Romero, now the Rector of the Universidad Mayor de San Andres. Gonzalez also taught civil engineering at the Escuela Militar de Ingenieria (Bolivian military engineering school). Among his students at EMI was a future president of Bolivia, General Juan Jose Torres.

He worked as a senior structural engineer at Clark, Dietz & Associates in Urbana, Illinois from 1967 until his passing, from pancreatic cancer, on October 17, 1979.^[2] He was 55 years old. Included among his many projects in Illinois was the 1975 structural investigation of the Gallatin County Courthouse Building in Shawneetown, Illinois.

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