Word: melindas
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...much that they don't feel the need to work and contribute," says Bill. "It's not clear that's not a paradox, but it's a good thought." The bulk of his $46.5 billion fortune will go to the foundation, but he says he and Melinda have not decided how much to leave their children. "Our thinking will evolve," he says...
...When you write the check, you think, Hmm, that's a lot of zeros," Bill admitted to PEOPLE that year. But by then, he and Melinda had Jennifer, then 3, and Rory, just 7 months. And parenthood was changing them in ways they were just beginning to understand. "Melinda and I talked about the things we believed in for our own kids. You want them safe and healthy," he said at the time. "Jennifer wakes up at night, and I lie down to help her get back to sleep. She puts her feet on top of mine and watches...
Once the Gateses committed to working on global health, the foundation began to grow much faster than anyone anticipated, Stonesifer recalls--just as the U.S. library program had in the years prior. "Bill and Melinda had said, 'Well, how many libraries should we do?' I said, 'Well, what if we did all of them?' And they said, 'Yeah, what if we did all of them?'" she remembers. Today the wall above her desk is covered with a map of all the libraries the foundation has provided with computers, Internet access and librarian training...
...applied to business prospects." At one point, baffled by the organizational complexities of the U.N., Stonesifer called a man who works there and asked if he had a PowerPoint presentation that would explain how it all works. He did. "So he sent me a PowerPoint presentation, and Bill and Melinda and I went through it!" says Stonesifer...
...Bill, Melinda and Patty began to do things they had sworn they would never do. Although as a nonprofit they are forbidden to lobby for legislation, they are allowed to "educate." They opened an office in Washington and began meeting with politicians all over the world, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, French President Jacques Chirac and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice...