JUDGE JOHN E. GABRIELLI

(1963-1984)

John E. Gabrielli was born on April 24, 1921, in Reno, Nevada of immigrant parents, Dominic and Josephine Gabrielli. His parents were subsequently naturalized in the court over which Judge Gabrielli would eventually preside. He was Catholic and had two brothers. In 1922, the family moved to Oakland, California; he went to school in Oakland through the third grade. In 1930, the family moved back to Reno. He attended the Orvis Ring School, North Side Junior High School, and Reno High School, graduating in 1939. He attended the University of Nevada and graduated in 1943. While attending the University of Nevada, he was a basketball and football manager, Junior Class President, a member of Alpha Tau Omega (A.T.O.), the Coffin and Keys, Blue Keys, and Sagers.

Judge Gabrielli entered the Armed Services on March 15, 1943. In November of 1943, he was on the Casino front in Italy as a Private Infantry Replacement, after which he was transferred to the M.P. Platoon of the Third Infantry Division. He eventually became a Corporal. He participated in the Anzio Beachhead conflict and the invasion of Southern France and Central Europe. He was honorably discharged from the Service in October of 1945, and returned to the United States to enter law school at Hastings College of Law, University of California, San Francisco, California. He graduated law school and passed the Nevada State Bar in 1949. He then became associated in the law practice with Gordon W. Rice. This firm later became the law firm of McCarran, Rice, Wedge and Blakey.

The firm was eventually dissolved at the death of Senator Patrick McCarran and the election of Gordon W. Rice to the Bench. Judge Gabrielli was appointed as City Attorney of Sparks, Nevada, and served from 1955 to 1957. In 1959, he joined the District Attorney's Office of Washoe County and oversaw the Uniform Reciprocal Support and Hospital Welfare Division. He ran for, and was elected as, judge in the Second Judicial District Court, January 7th, 1963; he retired from the bench January 7th, 1984.

He met his wife, Lillian DiVita, in Rome while serving in the U.S. Army and they were married in Reno in 1947. They had five children. Judge Gabrielli passed away on January 27th, 1988.