Walter Gonzalez Gonzalez

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. 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. In 1952, he performed with the Bolivian National 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 Premio Vicente Burgaleta, named after the Spanish-born founder and first dean of the U.M.S.A. faculty of engineering.[1]

In 1955, Walter Gonzalez was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, earning a M.S. in Civil Engineering.[2] He returned to Bolivia in 1959.

Walter Gonzalez married Nelly Sfeir Cabero in 1952. They 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][3] and founding editor of the Bolivian Studies Journal.[4] 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.[5] Granddaughter Dr. Andrea Gonzalez was honored as the Resident of the Year by the Hispanic National Medical Association.[6] Grandson Xavier Gonzalez, a mathematician and computational neuroscientist, was the first Bolivian American Rhodes Scholar.[7] 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.

From 1961 to 1965, 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 road from Caranavi to Santa Ana de Mosetenes and San Borja).[1][8]

Gonzalez served as Dean of the School of Engineering at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres.[2] He served as president of the Society of Bolivian Engineers (Sociedad de Ingenieros de Bolivia) in 1965–1966.[1] 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.