William H. Gates, Sr.

William Henry "Bill" Gates (born William Henry Gates II; November 30, 1925), also known publicly as Bill Gates Sr., is a retired American attorney and philanthropist and author of the book Showing Up for Life: Thoughts on the Gifts of a Lifetime. He is the father of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

One of a line of businessmen named William H. Gates, and sometimes called William Gates Jr. in his career, he is now generally known as William Henry Gates Sr. due to the greater prominence of his son William H. Gates III (Bill Gates).

Life and career
Gates was born in 1925 in Bremerton, Washington, to William Henry Gates I or Sr. (1891 – 1969) and Lillian Elizabeth Rice (1891 – 1966); the couple had married in 1913. His paternal grandmother was German and his maternal grandmother was English, and he was apparently the third William Henry Gates, despite being named the second. Gates was an active member of a Boy Scout troop for several years, and earned the Eagle Scout Award in 1941. After high school he enlisted in the United States Army, changing his name to William Gates Jr. to avoid the appearance of elitism. He fought in World War II and was honorably discharged in November 1946.

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 co-founded Shidler & King in 1964, which later became Preston Gates & Ellis LLP. He practiced with the firm until 1998, and the firm was merged into the firm now known as K&L Gates (Bill Gates Sr. is not affiliated with the firm).

Gates also served on the board of Planned Parenthood.

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 daughter-in-law 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. 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.

He married Mary Maxwell Gates (b. 1929), whom he met at UW, and they remained married until she died in 1994. They had three children: Kristianne, Bill, and Libby. In 1996 Gates married Mimi Gardner Gates (b.1943), who was the director of the Seattle Art Museum.

World Justice Project
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

 * 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.
 * 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, 1993–1995
 * President of the Seattle-King County Bar Association, 1969-1970
 * President of the Washington State Bar Association, 1986–1986
 * 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
 * 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