Moving Metal

Young Bill Gimbel was five-foot-eight inches tall, but lean and lanky, with a toothy grin. He was a good athlete and an excellent student. He attended the University of California at Berkeley and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering in 1942. After graduation, he went to work as an aeronautical engineer for Douglas Aircraft Company in El Segundo, where he met his wife Georgina. In 1944, Gimbel resigned in order to accept a commission in the U.S. Navy Reserves. As a naval ensign, he saw combat during the last stages of the Pacific War on board the light aircraft carrier USS Monterey. Returning to civilian life after the war, he went to work in June 1946 as a stress analyst for Northrop Aircraft Company in Hawthorne, California. Gimbel soon grew dissatisfied with his job at Northrop, and began thinking about taking advantage of the 1944 Ser- vicemen’s Readjustment Act, or the “G.I. Bill,” to pursue a Master of Business Administration degree at Harvard Business School. At this critical moment in his life, Florence decided to track him down and re-introduce him to the Neilan family. Florence Neilan was a traditionalist and did not believe that women should be involved in such things as company man- agement—but perhaps, she thought, her brother could. Tom Neilan approved; he was eager to meet his nephew and to perhaps bring him aboard at Reliance. Florence succeeded in locating the very pleasantly sur- prised Bill Gimbel. As he renewed his relationship with his sister, Gimbel also got to know his Uncle Tom. As they grew more comfortable with one another, Neilan asked Gimbel about his future. When Gimbel told him that he wanted to go to Harvard Business School, Neilan bluntly replied that he would be better off coming to work for Reliance; he would learn much more about real-world business in the ware-

In the early 1950s Reliance was booming—and finally became the sole occupant of the facility at East 37 th Street and Ross Avenue in Vernon, California.

but May was unable to support Florence, so Tom and Mae Neilan, being childless, adopted her. Having grown up in the Neilan household, Florence began using the Neilan surname sometime between 1930 and 1940. After the Neilans moved to Los Angeles, she was separated from her younger brother, who remained in San Francisco with his father until he reached his age of majority.

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