William Henry Gates III: A Case Study on How Multi-Generational Family Background, Wealth, and Access to Connections Can Really Pay Off in Life
I love stories like this!
I should be focusing on my constitutional restoration blueprint book and website that get publicly announced in the morning, but instead I went down a rabbit hole regarding Bill Gates. I swear! What is wrong with me?
To start, here’s an insightful and fun read about Bill Gates (William Henry Gates III).
Microsoft: How Bill Gates Got Lucky - by The Startup Guy
The author though doesn’t give III's father (and family line) the attention he deserves for III's success (or "luck" as he calls it) in life.
William Henry Gates II (November 30, 1925 – September 14, 2020), better known as Bill Gates Sr., was the son of Lillian Elizabeth Rice (1891–1966) and William Henry Gates (1891–1969), who was himself the son of William Henry Gates, a furniture store owner and gold prospector during the Dawson Gold Rush of 1898.
Senior was more than just "a prominent lawyer with deep ties to the [Seattle] business community." Senior began his career in private practice in Seattle in 1951. In 1964, Senior joined Roger Shidler and George W. McBroom to create the partnership of Shidler McBroom & Gates. There, Senior developed a robust corporate practice. As principal counsel, Senior represented a number of companies in high technology, general manufacturing, distribution, service and merchandising businesses.
On January 1, 1990, Shidler, McBroom, Gates & Lucas merged with another firm to form Preston Thorgrimson Shidler Gates & Ellis. In 1997, the firm became Preston Gates & Ellis LLP. In 1998, Senior retired from Preston Gates & Ellis.
During his legal career, Senior served as president of both the King County Bar Association and the Washington State Bar Association, as well as of the National Conference of Bar Presidents, and was a longtime state delegate to the American Bar Association, which awarded Senior its highest honor, the ABA Medal, in 2009.
After retirement from the practice of law, he served for fifteen years on the Board of Regents of the University of Washington, and until his death was a co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It has been reported that III inherited about $1 billion from Senior in 2020, but decided to forgo it in favor of III's charity. Not too bad, right?
To boot, III's mother, Mary Maxwell Gates, was a member of the boards for First Interstate BancSystem and the United Way of King County. (Her father was JW Maxwell, a national bank president.) It was at the United Way where she met the late John Opel, the Chairman of IBM in 1980, put in a good word or two about her son resulting in Microsoft securing its first big contract. At the time, Microsoft didn’t even actually have an operating system of its own. So, in 1981, Microsoft bought QDOS, an operating system created by hardware company Seattle Computer Products, and with it developed MS-DOS, the Microsoft Disk Operating System. Microsoft licensed its MS-DOS to IBM to use as the operating system for its personal computer, and we all know what happened after that!
A link to a nice family tree for III.
In any event, III's advantageous multi-generational family background on both his father's and mother's side, wealth, and access to connections couldn't have helped him more with his success and "luck."
FYI: Preston Gates & Ellis went on to become K&L Gates LLP in 2007. According to the National Law Journal's 2025 NLJ 500 ranking of firms based on size, K&L Gates has 1732 attorneys and is ranked 17th in the United States. With $1,327,801,000 gross revenue in 2024, the firm placed 44th on The American Lawyer's 2025 Am Law 200 ranking. On the 2024 Global 200 survey, K&L Gates ranked as the 49th highest grossing law firm in the world.
Watch for the public announcement of my constitutional restoration blueprint book and website in the morning!!!