Melinda French Gates, On August 15, 1964, in Dallas, Texas, Melinda Ann French was born. Raymond Joseph French Jr., an aerospace engineer, and Elaine Agnes Amerland, a housewife, have four children together. She is the younger of two brothers and has an older sister.
Melinda Ann French Gates, an American philanthropist and former Microsoft computer scientist and general manager, was born on August 15, 1964. Forbes has listed French Gates as one of the most powerful women in the world on several occasions.
French, a devout Catholic, was the class president at St. Monica Catholic School. French was introduced to the Apple II at the age of 14 by her father and a teacher named Mrs Bauer, who advocated for teaching computer science to the students at the all-girls school. Her interest in computer games and the BASIC programming language sparked as a result of this experience.
From 1996 until 2003, French Gates served on the Board of Trustees at Duke University. She has been a member of the Graham Holdings (previously The Washington Post Company) Board of Directors since 2004 and attends the yearly Bilderberg Group conference. She was also on the board of directors at Drugstore.com until August 2006, when she stepped down to focus on humanitarian endeavours. French Gates has been active in the public spotlight since 2000, claiming, “As I pondered about powerful women throughout history, I realised that they all stood out in some manner.” This has helped her work gain recognition while also assisting the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in formulating and achieving its aims.
Melinda and Bill Gates were honoured by the Jefferson Awards in 2002 with the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged.
Melinda and Bill Gates, together with Bono, were selected Persons of the Year in December 2005 by Time magazine. On May 4, 2006, Melinda and Bill Gates were honoured with the Spanish Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation in recognition of their global charity influence.
French Gates received the Insignia of the Order of the Aztec Eagle in November 2006, together with Bill Gates, who received the Placard of the same order, for their humanitarian work in the fields of health and education around the world.
