William Gianelli

Gianelli was born in Stockton, California in February 1919. He was educated at the University of California, Berkeley, receiving a B.S. in 1941. He then served in the United States Army Corps of Engineers from 1941 to 1945, in the midst of World War II. In this capacity, he was involved in building airfields, water supply facilities, and other construction projects at installations in Hawaii, Saipan, Okinawa, and Korea. By the end of the war, he had attained the rank of Major. ==Early career==

After the war, in January 1946, Gianelli took a job in the office of the State Engineer of California. After ten years in that job, he left for the California Department of Water Resources, becoming staff engineer and special assistant to the director. In 1959, he became district engineer for the CDWR's southern district. In 1960, Gianelli left government service and formed a consulting engineering firm, Gianelli & Murray. ==Government career==

In January 1967, Governor of California Ronald Reagan appointed Gianelli as head of the California Department of Water Resources. ==Later life==

Gianelli continued to work as a consultant after leaving government service in 1984. In 1997, he joined Dawson & Associates as an advisor on environmental permitting. He served there for more than a decade. Gianelli was president of the Water Education Foundation, based in Sacramento, Calif., from 1985-1989. He made a major financial donation that helped the Foundation create an educational program for young professionals, which is named the William R. "Bill" Gianelli Water Leaders Class. ==References==