Cathleen Small - Melinda Gates: Philanthropist and Education Advocate

Published in 2018 by Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC

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Copyright 2018 by Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC

First Edition

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Small, Cathleen.

Title: Melinda Gates / Cathleen Small.

Description: New York : Cavendish Square, 2018. | Series: Leading women | Includes index.

Identifiers: ISBN 9781502627070 (library bound) | ISBN 9781502627087 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Gates, Melinda, 1964---Juvenile literature. | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation--History--Juvenile literature. | Women philanthropists--United States--Biography--Juvenile literature. | Humanitarianism--United States--Juvenile literature.

Classification: LCC HV28.G326 S63 2018 | DDC 361.7632092--dc23

Editorial Director: David McNamara

Editor: Tracey Maciejewski

Copy Editor: Nathan Heidelberger

Associate Art Director: Amy Greenan

Designer: Lindsey Auten

Production Coordinator: Karol Szymczuk

Photo Research: J8 Media

The photographs in this book are used by permission and through the courtesy of: Cover J. Countess/ Getty Images; p. Liselotte Sabroe/ScanPix Denmark/AFP/Getty Image.

Printed in the United States of America

Melinda Gates, photographed here in 2015, was born Melinda Ann French.

CHAPTER ONE

Growing Up Melinda Gates

M elinda Gatess name is recognized worldwide, but not because of ostentatious celebrity. Shes not a well-known actress or an award-winning singer, and shes not a regular on the celebrity club circuit. Rather, her name is recognized because she has spent the last couple of decades quietly but persistently dedicating her life to improving the lives of others. The fact that shes married to one of the worlds richest men, multibillionaire Microsoft mogul Bill Gates, has afforded her the opportunity to be able to help people, but its her own quiet determination that has been the real driving force behind the female half of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

A Texas Schoolgirl

Before she was Melinda Gates, she was Melinda Ann French, born in Dallas, Texas, on August 15, 1964. This was the era of the Kennedy assassination, which put Dallas on the map in a tragic way. However Melindas childhood was anything but tragic. Her father Raymond Joseph French, Jr., was an aerospace engineer in Dallas, and her mother, Elaine Agnes Amerland, stayed home to raise Melinda and her three siblings.

Melinda was Raymond and Elaine's second daughter. She has a sister, Susan, who is fourteen months older than her, and two younger brothers, Raymond and Steven. The four children helped out with the familys second income stream. In addition to her fathers income from his job as an aerospace engineer, the family managed rental properties to bring in extra money. Melinda remembers her work at the properties: I mowed lawns, I cleaned ovensbelieve me, I did it all. This attention to financial details was an early predictor of Melindas pivotal role in the charitable foundations run by the Gates family.

Raymond and Elaines dual income stream allowed the family to enjoy a middle-class life in Texas and helped them work toward their goal of sending all four of their children to college. Elaine regretted that she had not gone to college herself, and she intended for all of her children to take advantage of their opportunity to go. Education was a focus in their home, so its not surprising that in her philanthropic work now, Melinda Gates is focused on education as a major part of her goals.

In the early 1980s, the French family managed the financial aspect of their rental properties using an Apple III computer, an amusing irony given that Melinda went on to marry the cofounder of Microsoft, Apples largest competitor! Its somewhat surprising that the French family was using an Apple, given that by the mid-1980s, IBM and other clones (running Microsofts operating system on their machines) far outnumbered Apple in salesby 1985, PCs running the Microsoft OS dominated with nearly a 50 percent market share, compared to Apples roughly 12 percent. But that early Apple III was part of what sparked Melindas interest in computing.

The French family were Roman Catholics, and Melinda went to St. Monica Catholic Schoolpart of St. Monica Catholic Church in Dallas, which she attended with her family. Melinda was a top student in elementary school, and her favorite subject was math. Although most parents didnt encourage their daughters to pursue STEM subjects such as math in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Melindas parents were very encouraging of their bright daughter, telling her, You can get what you want.

After graduating from St. Monica, Melinda went on to Ursuline Academy of Dallas, an all-girls Catholic high school in Dallas that was founded nearly 150 years ago. Melindas interest in STEM subjects continued at Ursuline, where she continued her math studies and expanded into computers as well. These were the early days of personal computing, and Melinda was known for helping her fellow students learn how to program. Her math and computer teacher at Ursuline, Susan Bauer, commented, She was hard-working and personable. She was one of the best students I ever had.

Melinda claims those goals ranged from learning a new word to running a mile, but she admits that one goal was to be valedictorian, because she wanted to be admitted to an elite school, such as Notre Dame.

But Melinda wasnt all serious and studying. She was also captain of the drill team, volunteered as a candy striper at the hospital, and tutored at a school for less fortunate students.

Melinda was reportedly well liked at school. Susan Bauer remembers her as never abrasive She was always lovely and charming, and she would win people over by being persuasive. Friends of the French family are tight lipped about Melindas early years, respecting the French familys wish to respect Melindas privacy. By all accounts, though, Melinda was a well-rounded student. Certainly her academic record was impressiveshe was Ursulines valedictorian for the graduating class of 1982, fulfilling the goal she had set for herself.

Melinda Gates (center) with classmates at Ursuline Academy of Dallas

Melinda clearly has fond memories of her time at Ursulineshe has been an adviser and donor to the academy for decades. In 2006 and 2007, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recognized the school by giving it two grants (one for $5 million and one for $2 million) to help build a new STEM center and fund STEM education at the school. Fittingly, the new STEM center is known as the French Family Science, Math, and Technology Center, and it was dedicated in 2010. In her speech at the dedication ceremony, Melinda said, Since I graduated from Ursuline, I have been passionate about getting girls and women involved in science, math and technology. My vision is for this building to be an equalizer in the sciences. That is what my Ursuline education was for me.