Mary Maxwell Gates
| Mary Maxwell Gates | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Mary Maxwell July 5, 1929 Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Died | June 10, 1994 (aged 64) Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Cause of death | breast cancer |
| Alma mater | University of Washington |
| Occupation | Schoolteacher, businesswoman |
| Spouse(s) | William H. Gates, Sr. |
| Children | 1 son: Bill Gates, 2 daughters |
| Parent(s) | James Willard Maxwell Adele Thompson |
Mary Maxwell Gates (July 5, 1929 – June 10, 1994) was an American businesswoman, and served 18 years (1975–1993) on the University of Washington board of regents.
She was the first female president of King County's United Way, the first woman to chair the national United Way’s executive committee where she served most notably with IBM's CEO, John Opel, and the first woman on the First Interstate Bank of Washington's board of directors. Her son Bill Gates is the founder of Microsoft.
Gates was born in Seattle, Washington, as Mary Maxwell to James Willard Maxwell (Nebraska, 1901–1960), a banker, and his wife, whom he married in c. 1927, Adele Thompson (probably born in Enumclaw, Washington, c. 1903).Her grandfather,James Willard Maxwell (1864-1951), was president of the National City Bank in Seattle from 1911 to 1929 and a director of the Seattle branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
Gates graduated from Seattle's Roosevelt High School and then attended the nearby University of Washington, where she received a degree in education in 1950. She married UW law graduate William H. Gates, Sr. in 1951, and she taught school in the early 1950s. After her husband co-founded the law practice that became Preston Gates & Ellis in Seattle, Gates turned to a variety of civic activities. Gates' volunteer roles in Seattle and King County included serving on the boards of the Children's Hospital Foundation, Seattle Symphony, Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, United Way of King County, and many other nonprofit organizations. She also served as President of the Junior League of Seattle from 1966–1967.
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