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Bill Gates Biography
Brought to you by:

in full William Henry Gates III

(1955–)

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Entrepreneur. Born William Henry Gates, III, on October 28, 1955, in Seattle,
Washington. Gates began to show an interest in computer programming at the age of 13
at the Lakeside School. He pursued his passion through college. Striking out on his own
with his friend and business partner Paul Allen, Gates found himself at the right place at
the right time. Through technological innovation, keen business strategy, and aggressive
competitive tactics he built the world's largest software business, Microsoft. In the
process he became one of the richest men in the world.

Bill Gates grew up in an upper middle-class family with two sisters: Kristianne, who is
older, and Libby, who is younger. Their father, William H. Gates, Sr., was a promising, if
somewhat shy, law student when he met his future wife, Mary Maxwell. She was an
athletic, outgoing student at the University of Washington, actively involved in student
affairs and leadership. The Gates family atmosphere was warm and close, and all three
children were encouraged to be competitive and strive for excellence. Bill showed early
signs of competitiveness when he coordinated family athletic games at their summer
house on Puget Sound. He also relished in playing board games (Risk was his favorite)
and excelled in Monopoly.

Bill had a very close relationship with his mother, Mary, who after a brief career as a
teacher devoted her time to helping raise the children and working on civic affairs and
with charities. She also served on several corporate boards, among them First Interstate
Bank in Seattle (founded by her grandfather), the United Way, and International Business
Machines (IBM). She would often take Bill along on her volunteer work in schools and
community organizations.

Bill was a voracious reader as a child, spending many hours pouring over reference books
such as the encyclopedia. Around the age of 11 or 12, Bill's parents began to have
concerns about his behavior. He was doing well in school, but he seemed bored and
withdrawn at times. His parents worried he might become a loner. Though they were
strong believers in public education, when Bill turned 13 they enrolled him in Seattle's
Lakeside School, an exclusive preparatory school. He blossomed in nearly all his
subjects, excelling in math and science, but also doing very well in drama and English.

While at Lakeside School, a Seattle computer company offered to provide computer time
for the students. The Mother's Club used proceeds from the school's rummage sale to
purchase a teletype terminal for students to use. Bill Gates became entranced with what a
computer could do and spent much of his free time working on the terminal. He wrote a
tic-tac-toe program in BASIC computer language that allowed users to play against the
computer.

It was at Lakeside School where Bill met Paul Allen, who was two years his senior. The
two became fast friends, bonding on their common enthusiasm over computers, even
though they were very different. Allen was more reserved and shy. Bill was feisty and at
times combative. They both spent much of their free time together working on programs.
Occasionally, they disagreed and would clash over who was right or who should run the
computer lab. On one occasion, their argument escalated to the point where Allen banned
Gates from the computer lab. On another occasion, Gates and Allen had their school
computer privileges revoked for taking advantage of software glitches to obtain free
computer time from the company that provided the computers. After their probation, they
were allowed back in the computer lab when they offered to debug the program. During
this time, Gates developed a payroll program for the computer company the boys hacked
into, and a scheduling program for the school.

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