Everything you need to know about Melinda Gates - wife of billionaire Bill Gates

The divorce of billionaire Bill Gates and his wife , Melinda Gates, has attracted widespread attention not only from the media but also from ordinary people around the world for several days now.

 

Everyone is probably very familiar with the name billionaire Bill Gates , the powerful man behind Microsoft, but who is Melinda?

Key milestones in Melinda's life

1. In 1987, Melinda Gates joined Microsoft.
2. In 1994, she and billionaire Bill Gates married. That same year, she and Gates co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
3. In 2006, she restructured the organization.
4. In 2012, she pledged $560 million to improve access to contraception for women in poor countries.
5. In 2021, she and Bill Gates decided to divorce.

Biography

Melinda's full name is Melinda Ann French. She was born on August 15, 1964, in Dallas, Texas, USA. She has one older sister and two younger brothers. Her father is Ray French, an aerospace engineer, and her mother is Elaine French, a stay-at-home mother.

Melinda's mother didn't go to college, so she placed great emphasis on her daughter's education.

Melinda's interest in computers began when she took an advanced math class at Ursuline Academy, a Catholic girls' school. She continued this passion in college, earning a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Duke University in 1986. Later, she also earned a Master of Business Administration degree in economics from the same university.

Career

Working at Microsoft

In 1987, she began working at Microsoft Corporation as a product manager, focusing on developing multimedia products. After more than nine years at Microsoft, she was promoted to General Manager of Information Products. The products she worked on included Expedia, Cinemania, and Encarta.

 

Philanthropic activities through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

In 1994, Melinda, Gates, and Gates' father founded the William H. Gates Foundation. In 1999, this foundation merged with two other charitable foundations, the Gates Library Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, and was renamed the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Although the organization's initial goal was to place computers and Microsoft products in libraries across the United States, over the years, Melinda has expanded its educational innovation efforts worldwide. In addition, the foundation addresses global issues of poverty and health.

In 2006, a friend of Bill's, Warren Buffett, donated $30 billion to the fund. Aiming to address the most pressing needs, Melinda restructured the organization, focusing on three main areas: global health, global development, and education and the American community. One of the primary goals of global health is to develop prevention strategies, vaccines, and treatments for diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.

In 2011, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation officially re-established its mission: "to improve equality in four areas: global health, education, access to digital information through public libraries, and support for disadvantaged families in Washington and Oregon." In 2012, Melinda pledged $560 million to improve access to contraception for women in impoverished countries.

Melinda and Gates are also committed to changing the state of education in America. Their foundation funds the education of many students through the Gates Millennium Scholars scholarship program.

In 2015, Melinda and Gates demonstrated their support for progressive workplace policies by allowing their employees a year of paid leave after giving birth or adopting a child. In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded them the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their philanthropic contributions.

In 2019 – the time when the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in China – Melinda and Gates dedicated significant resources to bringing together leading pharmaceutical companies to contribute to vaccine development.

 

Book

In 2019, Melinda's book, *The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World*, was published. 'How can we bring about a moment of lift for people – and especially for women? Because when you uplift women, you uplift humanity,' she wrote.

Private life

In 1987, Melinda met Gates at a PC trade show in Manhattan. She was surprised by his sense of humor. A few months later, they happened to meet again in the Microsoft parking lot, and Gates offered to invite her to dinner in two weeks. Melinda declined and gave Gates her phone number, telling him to call her back closer to the date. She didn't expect that Bill Gates would call her that very evening and propose a meeting.

After six years of dating, Gates proposed to her. In 1994, they married on Laina Island, Hawaii. In 1996, she gave birth to their first daughter, Jennifer Katharine Gates. At that time, she decided to quit her job at Microsoft to focus on raising her children and philanthropy. Melinda and Gates went on to have two more children, Rory John and Phoebe Adele.

On May 4, 2021, Melinda and Bill Gates decided to divorce after 27 years of marriage.