Bill Gates Sr. Offers Stories of His Son’s Foundation in New Memoir

NEW BOOKS

Showing Up for Life: Thoughts on the Gifts of a Lifetime
by Bill Gates Sr., with Mary Ann Mackin

Reflecting on a lifetime of lessons learned from his career as a lawyer and from participating in charitable causes, Bill Gates Sr. writes that “showing up” has become not only a duty, but an obsession.

Mr. Gates, father of the Microsoft co-founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, revisits the various stages of his life and shares nuggets of wisdom he has accumulated, such as the importance of keeping promises.

He also shares the inspirations behind the foundation. Mr. Gates named the Rotary Clubs as a model for the vaccination programs now supported by the Gates foundation. He credits the charity for playing a large role in drastically reducing the occurrence of polio by organizing many volunteers, raising money, lobbying leaders, and even negotiating ceasefires in countries plagued by civil war.

Another organization that has influenced the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the Rockefeller Foundation, because of its wide-ranging partnerships and agricultural projects. Rockefeller, along with the Ford Foundation, helped to double food production in Asia and Latin America from the 1940s through the 60s.

Writes Mr. Gates: “I have witnessed the power of collaboration, in many different forms, and with no small degree of awe, in many parts of the world.”

Publisher: Broadway Books, 1745 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10019; http://www.randomhouse.com/broadway; 192 pages; $22.00; ISBN 978-0-385-52701-9.