Ernest U. Gambaro
Senior VP and General Counsel, Retired
Infonet
BSAE 1960
MSAE 1961
"I learned at Purdue that intellect, enhanced by knowledge, and combined with hard work were essential to the realization of opportunities presented to us during our lives."
Gambaro was born July 6, 1938 in Niagara Falls, N.Y., to Italian immigrant parents suffering the economic hardships of the Great Depression. He overcame his impoverished beginnings to excel as an honor student and leader. In 1955, he was named "The Most Outstanding Youth of the City" by the Mayor of Niagara Falls.
HIS UNIVERSITY YEARS
He attended Purdue University on a Special Merit scholarship where he graduated with honors in Aeronautical Engineering (B.S. in 1960, and M.S. in 1961). He was recognized for his academic achievements by being inducted as a member of Tau Beta Pi (for excellence in engineering) and Sigma Gamma Tau (for excellence in aeronautical and aerospace engineering). He was asked and agreed to be the founder and first president of the Purdue chapter of Omicron Delta Kappa, the national society which recognizes student leadership. During his final three summers while attending Purdue, he was employed by Bell Aircraft and Northrop. While at Northrop for two months, he created the equations to be carried aboard every Apollo spacecraft which would have been utilized by the astronauts to manually obtain the course adjustments to safely return to earth in the event the onboard computer failed during the Apollo flights to the moon.
In 1961, he was named a Fulbright Scholar by the Institute for International Education and the Government of the United States. He continued his graduate studies in aerospace engineering at Rome University in Rome, Italy. While there, he studied with Luigi Broglio, the leader of Italy's fledgling space program, and worked on the San Marco Program which launched Europe's first satellite into equatorial orbit (on a U.S rocket launched from a platform in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Kenya). The satellite collected data on the Earth's magnetic field for more than two decades.
HIS ENGINEERING YEARS AT THE AEROSPACE CORPORATION
In late 1962, he joined The Aerospace Corporation which was created to perform General Systems Engineering and Technical Direction for the ballistic missile and space programs of the U. S. Air Force and other national military and intelligence agencies. He was the youngest member of the conceptual design group and oversaw the creation and implementation of most of the USAF experiments aboard the Gemini spacecraft, and the payload and mission design for the Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL) program for the USAF. Thereafter, Gambaro, who held the nation's highest security clearances, was assigned to the special projects group where he and several others crafted the initial designs for the country's premier orbital reconnaissance system which was operational for many years.
ENGINEERING TRANSITION TO LAW
While continuing his responsibilities at The Aerospace Corporation, he enrolled at Loyola University, the Jesuit university in Los Angeles, to become a 'high tech' lawyer. He completed his Juris Doctor studies in 120 weeks, the minimum permitted by the California State Bar. Gambaro was granted special dispensation the take the bar exam before he graduated in 1975, by which time he was already admitted to the practice of law in California. He transferred to the corporate law department of The Aerospace Corporation where he gained skills in the practice of law to compliment his knowledge of the application of technology and engineering.
COMPUTER SCIENCES CORPORATION
His first assignment was to recover money owed CSC by the Iranian government after the fall of the Shah for the development and implementation of a computer-based logistics system. In proceedings he initiated before the Iran Claims Tribunal in The Hague, he secured the third largest award then granted by the Tribunal arising from contracts performed for the Shah's government for which payment was withheld by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
He next represented CSC in transactions connected with the development and deployment of the AEGIS fleet area defense system, and with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the Peace Shield Program (together with Boeing) and in the $300 million program awarded CSC to construct a national computer network for the Kingdom's Ministry of Interior.
He led a multi-million dollar domestic and international acquisition program which resulted in the addition of more than a dozen companies to CSC.
As a consequence of these many domestic and international transactions, Gambaro developed considerable skill in the organization and financing of large domestic and international projects.
He was also active in the Los Angeles community during his years with CSC and Infonet. His accomplishments include serving on the Argue Committee, which was the primary entity engaged in bringing the 1984 Olympic Games to Los Angeles, and was a leader in the formation of the Los Angeles Opera Company.