Late DWR Director David Kennedy Praised as State, National Leader

Business Wire, Dec 26, 2007

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- David N. Kennedy, director of the State Department of Water Resources from 1983-1998, died in Sacramento on Sunday, December 23. He was 71.

The sixth of DWR's nine directors, Kennedy served in that leadership post longer than any other, appointed originally by Governor George Deukmejian and reappointed by Governor Pete Wilson.

"California has lost a great water leader and dedicated public servant," said DWR Director Lester Snow. "Dave's knowledge of California's water issues was unparalleled and his commitment to efficient and reliable operation of the State Water Project tireless. His efforts have permanently improved water management for all Californians. He will be missed by us all."

"In addition to his many professional accomplishments, he was always a great friend to me and I will miss him greatly," said William Gianelli of Pebble Beach, who served as Governor Reagan's Director of Water Resources from 1967-73. "The state and nation have lost a great water leader with the passing of David Kennedy."

"I am saddened by the passing of Dave, my successor at the Department," said Ron Robie, who served as DWR Director under Governor Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown. "He had a long and illustrious career of which we can all be proud," said Robie, an Associate Justice of California's 3d District Court of Appeal in Sacramento.

Under Kennedy's direction, DWR expanded the State Water Project's Delta pumping capacity, enhanced the system's environmental safeguards, intensified Delta ecosystem and fish research, and completed construction of the 100-mile Coastal Branch to provide a supplemental water supply to users in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. In 1994, he helped negotiate the Monterey Agreement resolving a variety of issues with State Water Project contractors and providing greater equity in allocation of State Water Project supplies between agricultural and urban users.

His accomplishments included leading DWR during the longest major statewide drought in modern California history during 1987-1992, including operation of an innovative State Emergency Water Bank, and many adaptive water supply adjustments and transfers.

Kennedy led DWR during major flood events in 1986, 1995 and 1997. After widespread flooding in1986, he helped upgrade DWR's flood-fighting abilities through creation of a new Joint Operations Center. Closer working ties with the Federal Central Valley Project were also achieved through co-location of monitoring facilities for both systems at the JOC. After the 1997 floods, DWR compiled and issued a comprehensive report recommending several major reforms and improvements in California flood prevention policy and operations.

Other achievements of the Kennedy era included adding four pumps to the Banks Pumping Plant in the 1990s, the 1986 start on enlarging the East Branch of the SWP, and completion of the North Bay Aqueduct Phase Two.

Widely respected in the water community and State government, Kennedy was an urbane strategic leader with a low-key personal style. He had a deep awareness of California water issues and political history.

For many, he personified the dedication and excellence of DWR's tradition in designing, building and operating the SWP, largest State-built and State-run water and power system in the United States.

Kennedy came to the DWR directorship after serving as assistant general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. He spent 15 years with MWD. From 1962 to 1968, Kennedy had been a staff engineer with DWR, during the era of SWP construction.

"When I first joined DWR in 1962 as a Junior Civil Engineer, I never imagined I would become DWR's director," Kennedy recalled, after his 1998 retirement.

Engineering was a family tradition for Kennedy. His father was an engineering professor at the University of California at Berkeley from 1950 to 1957 after serving as a Civil Engineer in Oregon with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and as a transportation engineer in Washington State's Department of Highways.

Kennedy earned two degrees at UC Berkeley: A Bachelors in Civil Engineering in 1959 and a Masters in 1962. Kennedy was the fourth UC Berkeley graduate to serve as DWR Director. He served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1959 to 1962.

Born in Ontario, Oregon on September 10, 1936, Kennedy graduated from Albany High School in California in 1954.

In 1997, Kennedy received UC Berkeley's Distinguished Alumni award. In 1998, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

After Hurricane Katrina, he served on an independent, 13-member external review panel to review work of government officials' study New Orleans' levee failures.

The review panel was organized by the American Society of Civil Engineers, which in 2001 had honored California's State Water Project as one of the most outstanding engineering achievement of the 20th Century. The only other California institution so honored was the Golden Gate Bridge.

As a retiree, Kennedy accepted invitations to visit Japan to speak on Delta issues and the State Water Project and to China, where he spoke on behalf of the World Bank about financing of the SWP.