But reading and material goods were not the only gifts that Bill Gates could have inherited from his mother. In a recent LinkedIn post, the man who once held the position of the world’s richest acknowledged Mrs. Mary Maxwell’s role in her calling for philanthropy.
“As a child, I was happy spending all my time reading. My mom always pushed me to do more and I’m glad she did. No matter what we were doing or where I was in my career, she always encouraged me to think of others and give back. She was one of the most generous people I have ever met and a great inspiration for my philanthropy,” Gates wrote on his LinkedIn profile, accompanying the memory of her with a photo where she appears together with his mother.
Who was the mother of Bill Gates?
Mary Ann Maxwell was a businesswoman who graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Education in 1950. She was born in Seattle in 1929, in the state of Washington. She married attorney William Gates. From this union Kristi, Bill and Libby were born.
In addition to her role as a mother, Mary Ann Maxwell also had a role in the business world. By the mid-1970s, she was already a very influential person in Seattle society, being the first woman to occupy managerial positions previously reserved for men.
She was the first director of the First Interstate Bank in the United States and president, also the first, of the philanthropic NGO United Way of America. She served on the boards of Unigard Security Insurance Group, Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Company, and US West Communications.
She died in 1994, a victim of breast cancer, “In the right place, at the right time,” wrote the New York Times as part of her obituary.