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 of the Alto Beni Development Project. The National Geographic Society has honored him with membership in its Cartographer's Circle in recognition of his work in the Amazon basin.
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. Gonzalez's siblings were Antonia (a school teacher), Ruben (a medical doctor), Juan and Jorge (the latter two civil engineers). Gonzalez's father was a pianist, ensemble leader and music teacher. He was also a folk artist. Gonzalez's mother's family owned a landed estate in Lobo Rancho, Cochabamba prior to the Bolivian National Revolution of 1952, which promulgated the expropriation of landed estates. As a young boy during summer vacations at the estate, Gonzalez learned Quechua from the children of the local peasant farmers. As an adult, Gonzalez always expressed support for the land reform enacted by the Bolivian National Revolution even though such reform had diminished the family's net worth.
Walter Gonzalez attended Colegio Bolivar, a public school, in his hometown of Cochabamba. A childhood friend who was an important role model for Gonzalez was Renato Cespedes (father of Colombian electrical engineer Renato Cespedes Gandarillas), who first planted the idea of becoming an engineer. At a society party one evening, where the two teenagers were performing as musicians in the orchestra (Gonzalez on violin and Cespedes on accordion), Cespedes pointed out Alfredo Galindo Quiroga, a distinguished gentleman, and indicated "he is an engineer and is working on the construction of the reservoir dam at La Angostura--I want to be like him." During one high school summer vacation, Gonzalez and a friend went on a camping/bicycling trip across the Bolivian altiplano from Cochabamba to Tiwanaku to visit the archaeological site and admire the megalithic stonework--this was a prelude to a career as a structural engineer. To their amazement, along the way they encountered the elusive "jucumari" or Andean spectacled bear.
From an early age, Gonzalez's 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 violinist 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 (UMSA) in La Paz, Bolivia. During his university days in La Paz, Gonzalez was able to support himself (room and board, clothing, academic books and supplies) from his earnings from playing the violin in carnaval season orchestras. Gonzalez's father had also taught him to draw and paint as a child. These skills would prove to be beneficial to Gonzalez in university coursework requiring draftsmanship and, later, in building a photo library of his experiences in the Alto Beni.
At UMSA, classmates Jorge Arevalo Gapnor, Oscar Rios, Jose Luis Ossio, Oscar Tapias, and Armando Murillo (father of ophthalmologist Gonzalo Murillo Azcarraga) became friends for life. Gonzalez received his Civil Engineer degree on December 31, 1952. His diploma was signed by Dr. Victor Paz Estenssoro, the president of Bolivia. As the top student in his graduating class, Walter Gonzalez was awarded, on August 29, 1952, 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. The award was poignant for two additional reasons: (1) Burgaleta had been Gonzalez's mentor during his university days, and (2) Burgaleta had died earlier in 1952. The master of ceremonies for awarding the prize was the dean of the school of engineering, Hugo Mancilla Romero, who would have a close professional relationship with Gonzalez during two decades.
Gonzalez performed his military service in the Bolivian Army's La Paz General Headquarters from 1953 to 1955, being discharged with the rank of Honorary Second Lieutenant. His military service included basic training as a rifleman; however, his primary military duties were to teach civil engineering at the Escuela Militar de Ingenieria. One of his most distinguished students at EMI was Juan Jose Torres, a future general and president of Bolivia.
In 1954, Gonzalez received a faculty appointment as the professor of Projective Geometry at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres school of engineering. Concurrent with his academic and military duties, Gonzalez also worked at the Empresa Constructora Rafael Gisbert construction company from 1950 to 1955, being responsible for the calculations for reinforced concrete in the building projects.
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 on August 13, 1956 and thereafter pursued advanced coursework in structural engineering. 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. From December 1956 to June 1959, Gonzalez worked part time at the engineering firm Clark, Dietz & Associates in Urbana, Illinois.
Gonzalez returned to Bolivia in 1959, just in time to witness the euphoric and multitudinary homecoming that Jaime Laredo received in La Paz for winning the Queen Elisabeth Competition musical prize. 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. In August 1963 Gonzalez was appointed Deputy Dean of the School of Civil Engineering, continuing a fruitful collaboration with Dean Hugo Mancilla Romero. In 1966, Gonzalez was appointed Dean of the Institute of Basic Sciences of the Universidad Mayor de San Andres. He continued teaching at UMSA until 1967. In his opinion, as recorded in a personal notebook, his most outstanding students were Hugo Belmonte, Julio Ponce, Andres Petricevic, Fily Estrada, Orestes Rosuce, Jose Luis Vega, Miguel Catacora, Jaime del Llano, Mariano Quispe, Alcides Reguerin, Edgar Pozo, and Abdon Calderon. Gonzalez was a just but demanding professor, earning the nickname among students of "el Tigre" (the Tiger).
Except for the period 1966-1967, Gonzalez's employment at UMSA was on a part time basis. Parallel to his academic activities, Gonzalez was working full time at the Corporacion Boliviana de Fomento from 1959 to 1965. It was an intense time for Gonzalez. He would spend many weekends during the academic year, and whole weeks during academic recesses, traveling to inspect infrastructure projects in Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, and—most notably—Alto Beni.
Marriage and family Walter Gonzalez married Nelly Esther Sfeir Cabero in January 1953 at La Paz, Bolivia. At the civil wedding ceremony, Hugo Mancilla Romero, Dean of the UMSA school of engineering, was one of his witnesses. One witness for his wife was Manuel Barrau Pelaez, a future Foreign Minister and Bolivian ambassador to the United Kingdom and the United States (see Embassy of Bolivia, Washington, D.C.). The Roman Catholic 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. His wife Nelly Sfeir Gonzalez was a university librarian, award-winning bibliographer, president of the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials, and founding editor of the Bolivian Studies Journal. 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. Granddaughter Dr. Andrea Gonzalez-Karpovics was honored as the "2021 Resident of the Year" by the Hispanic National Medical Association. Grandson Xavier Gonzalez, a mathematician and computational neuroscientist, was the first Bolivian American Rhodes Scholar.
In middle age, Walter Gonzalez resumed playing the violin in public. His signature piece was Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik." Gonzalez was first violinist for the Champaign-Urbana Civic Symphony Orchestra in the 1970s. Also in middle age, he took up bicycling again, first to accompany his youngest son on charity bike rides and later to try to salvage his failing health.
Career highlights In 1959, upon his return from post graduate studies in the United States, Gonzalez was hired as chief engineer by the Corporacion Boliviana de Fomento. Among his primary projects from 1959 to 1961 were the asphalting of the road from Cochabamba to Santa Cruz, building of irrigation infrastructure at Villamontes, construction of roads to the north of Santa Cruz, and the building of the roads from Licoma to Canhamina and from Caranavi to Santa Ana. From 1961 to 1963, Gonzalez served as the Chief 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). 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 (father of cardiologist Federico Elena Lenz) and Bolivian army lieutenant Julio Trigo and his platoon of machete-wielding conscripts. For some of the way they uncovered what remained of the long-abandoned Jesuit cattle path from the 18th century. During their trek, they had to be wary of boa constrictors and jaguars on land and caimans and piranha fish in the rivers. The biggest annoyance, however, came from the air—mosquitoes.
In a letter dated August 1, 1961 to the Clark, Daily & Dietz firm of consulting engineers in Urbana, Illinois, Adolfo Linares Arraya, president of the Corporacion Boliviana de Fomento, described Gonzalez's duties as follows: