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Medals of Philanthropy
William
H. Gates, Sr.
Bill and Melinda Gates
Inspiration.
Imagination. Innovation. Integrity. Invention. Individualism. Independence.
These are the hallmarks of the Gates family.
William
H. Gates, Sr., drawing on your decades of experience as an attorney
and as a trustee, officer, and volunteer for more than two dozen
Pacific Northwest organizations, you have been instrumental in providing
guidance and helping to develop strategic direction for the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation. It is your example of generosity and
unselfish giving, your love of community and of literacy, and your
dedication to the progress of our nation that have inspired your
son and your daughter-in-law to follow in your footsteps and become
generous and deeply caring philanthropists whose largesse benefits
not only our own nation but many others around the world.
Today,
we honor you as Co-Chair and CEO of the foundation, but we also
honor you—and Bill and Melinda Gates as well—for your
faith in Andrew Carnegie's "Gospel of Wealth," and for
celebrating it as a true clarion call to those who have great resources,
urging them to use their wealth in the service of humanity. And
this all three of you have certainly done. Indeed, Bill and Melinda,
despite the pressures of shepherding one of the world's leading
companies, have had the wisdom and foresight to understand that
their true legacy will arise from the great good they have done—and
will do—as philanthropists, working to help develop and deploy
life-saving vaccines, ease human suffering by improving global health
equity, and to promote education and learning on a worldwide basis.
It is a testament to the Gates family and their dedication to the
ideals of philanthropy that the Gates Foundation has become one
of the largest and most important foundations active in the world
today.
Your
far-ranging philanthropy encompasses the extraordinary and innovative
Library Program, which is committed to bringing computers with Internet
access to every public library serving a low-income community in
the United States and Canada. States, cities and provinces that
stretch from the Yukon Territory to Texas and from New York to California
have received computers and thus free access to information for
more than 140 million people—almost half the population of
North America. The International Library Program has similar goals,
striving to close the digital divide for all the people of the world.
Surely, if Andrew Carnegie were with us today, he would be the first
to applaud this new chapter in the cause that was perhaps dearest
to his heart: the development and proliferation of libraries as
the true schoolroom of the world, open to everyone.
For
the leadership of the Gates family in reaffirming an ethic of responsibility
to the global community and for your landmark efforts to promote
health equity around the world, to help all students achieve and
to bridge the digital divide, the 21 institutions founded by Andrew
Carnegie present the inaugural Andrew Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy
to you with pride and admiration.
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