Create account Log in

Article Talk

Read Edit View

historySearch
More

William H. Gates, Sr.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Main page

William Henry "Bill" Gates, Sr.

Contents

(born William Henry Gates II;

Featured content
Current events
Random article

William Henry Gates, Sr.

November 30, 1925) is a retired

American attorney and

Donate to Wikipedia

philanthropist and author of the

Wikipedia Shop

book Showing Up for Life:

Thoughts on the Gifts of a Lifetime.

Interaction

He is the father of Microsoft

Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

founder Bill Gates.

Gates, Sr., visits the Naz Foundation's care

centre for HIV Positive children, during his visit
to India

Contents [hide]
1 Life and career

Born

William Henry Gates II

November 30, 1925 (age 89)
Bremerton, Washington, U.S.

3 References

Alma mater

University of Washington

4 External links

Occupation

Lawyer (retired)

Spouse(s)

Mary Maxwell Gates

Mimi Gardner Gates

Children

Kristianne Gates
Bill Gates
Libby Gates

Parent(s)

William Henry Gates I

Lillian Elizabeth Rice

1.1 World Justice Project

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file

2 Awards and recognition

Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
Languages

Life and career

[edit]

Gates was born in Bremerton,

Washington, to William Henry
Gates I or Sr. (Bremerton,
Washington, March 14, 1891

Bremerton, Washington, August 17, 1969), and wife (married c. 1913) Lillian
Elizabeth Rice (Bremerton, Washington, 1891 Bremerton, Washington,
November 27, 1966). He was the third in his family to have the same name, his

Espaol

grandfather being the first William Henry Gates. His paternal grandmother was

German and his maternal grandmother was English.[1] Gates was an active

Franais
Bahasa Indonesia

member of a Boy Scout troop for several years, and earned the Eagle Scout

Portugus

Award in 1944. After high school he enlisted in the United States Army,

Simple English

changing his name to William Gates, Jr. to avoid the appearance of elitism.[2] He
fought in World War II and was honorably discharged in November 1946.

Edit links

He attended the University of Washington (UW) under the G.I. Bill, where he
earned a B.A. in 1949 and a law degree in 1950. While at Washington he joined
the Chi Psi Fraternity. He practiced law until 1998, primarily with the law firm
which he co-founded as Shidler & King in 1964, later known as Preston Gates &
Ellis LLP; the firm was merged into the firm now known as K&L Gates, although
Bill Gates, Sr. is not affiliated with the firm. Gates also served on the board of

Planned Parenthood.[3][4]
In 1998, Gates retired from PGE. He currently serves on the Board of Regents
for the University of Washington, and is a co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation, which his son Bill and his son's wife Melinda founded. He has
served as a director for Costco Wholesale, a bulk retail corporation, since 2003.
He is also a founding co-chair of the Pacific Health Summit.[5] He has adopted
the suffix "Sr." to distinguish himself from his more famous son.
Gates is co-author, with Chuck Collins, of the book Wealth and Our
Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes, a defense of
the policies promoted by the estate tax.[6][7]
He married Mary Maxwell Gates, whom he met at UW, and who died in 1994.
They had three children: Kristianne, Bill, and Libby. In 1996 Gates married Mimi
Gardner Gates, who was director of the Seattle Art Museum.

World Justice Project [edit]

William H. Gates, Sr. serves as an Honorary Co-Chair for the World Justice
Project. The World Justice Project works to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort
to strengthen the Rule of Law for the development of communities of
opportunity and equity.

Awards and recognition

[edit]

Awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award which acknowledges his

business and civic success at least 25 years after earning Eagle Scout rank
as a Scout.[8][9]
University of Washington School of Law Distinguished Alumnus, 1991
Recipient of the American Judicature Society Herbert Harley Award, 1992
Served on the Board for Judicial Administration, Washington State Supreme
Court, 19931995
President of the Seattle-King County Bar Association , 1969-1970
President of the Washington State Bar Association, 19861986
Inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2003
Has a building at the University of Washington School of Law named for him,
William H. Gates Hall, 2003[10]
Public Education Foundation speaker at Edmonds-Woodway, 2004
Washington Medal of Merit, 2009
Recipient of Chi Psi Fraternity's Albert S. Bard Award for his contributions to
the intellectual and cultural life of the community, 2010

References

[edit]

1. ^ Ancestry of Bill Gates

2. ^ Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews (1993). Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul
Reinvented an Industry and Made Himself The Richest Man in America.
Touchstone. ISBN 0-385-42075-7.
3. ^ "Is Bill Gates a closet liberal?"

. Salon.com. January 29, 1998. p. 2.

4. ^ "Transcript: Bill Moyers Interviews Bill Gates"

. NOW on PBS. September 5,

2003.
5. ^ "About the Summit"

. 2011. p. 1.

6. ^ "Table of contents for Library of Congress control number 2002011326"

Library of Congress.
7. ^ "Wealth And Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated
Fortunes"

. 60 Plus Association. March 18, 2003. (excerpted from book, p.57-

59)
8. ^ Townley, Alvin (2006-12-26). Legacy of Honor: The Values and Influence of
America's Eagle Scouts

. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 172175. ISBN 0-

312-36653-1. Retrieved 2006-12-29.

9. ^ Ray, Mark (2007). "What It Means to Be an Eagle Scout"

. Scouting

Magazine. Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved 2007-01-05.

10. ^ "William H. Gates Hall

." Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce. Retrieved on

Friday March 2, 2012.

External links

[edit]

Portrait of William H. Gates, Sr.

by Margaret Holland Sargent.

Speech for the graduates

Bill Gates

V T E

[hide]

Microsoft (History)
Life and history

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation bgC3

Cascade Investment Corbis
United States v. Microsoft antitrust case
"Open Letter to Hobbyists" (1976)

Writings

The Road Ahead (1995)

Business @ the Speed of Thought (1999)
Triumph of the Nerds (1996)

Films

Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999)

The Social Network (2010)
William H. Gates Sr. (father)

Family

Mary Maxwell Gates (mother) Melinda Gates

(spouse) Mimi Gardner Gates (stepmother)

Possessions

Codex Leicester Residence

Categories: 1925 births

Living people

American law firm executives

American military personnel of World War II

American nonprofit businesspeople
American people of German descent

American people of English descent

American philanthropists

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation people

Distinguished Eagle Scouts

Businesspeople from Seattle

Gates family

People from Bremerton, Washington

University of Washington alumni

United States Army soldiers

University of Washington regents

University of Washington School of Law alumni

Washington (state) lawyers

This page was last modified on 26 January 2015, at 15:01.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered trademark
of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy

About Wikipedia Disclaimers

Contact Wikipedia Developers

Mobile view