He was the son of Italian immigrants Rocco Gabrielli and Veronica (Battisti) Gabrielli. He graduated from
St. Lawrence University, and in 1936 from
Albany Law School. He was admitted to the bar in 1937. In 1938, he married Dorothy Hedges, and they had two children. In 1939, he became Corporation Counsel of
Bath, New York. In 1942, he was commissioned an
ensign in the
United States Navy. During
World War II, he served in North Africa,
Italy and
Malta, and took part in the landing at
Salerno, Italy, known as
Operation Avalanche, in September 1943. After the war, he resumed his office as Corporation Counsel of Bath and counsel to other cities and villages of the area. In 1953, he was first appointed and then elected District Attorney of
Steuben County. From 1957 to 1961, he was a Judge of the Steuben County Court and the Children's Court. In 1961, he was appointed to the
New York Supreme Court (7th District) to fill a vacancy, and elected in November 1961 to a fourteen-year term. He sat on the
Appellate Division from 1968 on. In
1972, he was elected on the
Republican and
Conservative tickets to the
New York Court of Appeals. In 1978, his was one of the seven names on the list submitted to Governor
Hugh L. Carey from which to choose the new
Chief Judge, but
Lawrence H. Cooke was selected. He retired from the Court of Appeals at the end of 1982 when he reached the constitutional age limit of 70 years. Afterwards he resumed the practice of law at Rochester. In 1983, he was appointed by Governor
Mario Cuomo as Chairman of the Judicial Screening Committee which recommends candidates for judicial appointments. He died at the Villa Mary Immaculate Nursing Home in Albany after struggling a month with
pneumonia. ==Sources==