SEATTLE — William Gates Sr., the father of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, has died at 94, the family said Tuesday.
Gates was a prominent Seattle attorney and the founding partner of one of the region’s best-known law firms. But it was his son’s fortune in the tech field that made the name “Bill Gates” known the world over. And it launched an entirely different path for the elder Gates when he was nearly 70.
That’s when he became one of the guiding forces behind the William H. Gates Foundation _ later renamed the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, after his son and daughter-in-law. It is one of the largest private foundations in the world.
“Dad lived a long and enormously meaningful life. I never stopped learning from his wisdom, kindness, and humility. Melinda and I owe him a special debt because his commitment to serving the community and the world helped inspire our own philanthropy,” his son said in a statement Tuesday. “Although he would be the last person to say it, my father’s compassion and generosity will live on in the foundation he helped build. As I’ve said many times before, my dad was the real Bill Gates. He was all the things I strive to be.”
On the foundation’s website, the elder Gates described how he and Bill Gates Jr. got involved in global health initiatives: “After reading an article that explained that millions of children were dying in poor countries from preventable diseases, my son, Bill, sent me a copy of it with a note that said: ‘Dad, maybe we can do something about this,'” Gates Sr. wrote. “Since then, I have dedicated my life to global issues I spent most of my career knowing nothing about.”