Background
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, King County, Washington, c 1903).
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, King County, Washington, c 1903).
University of Washington.
Gates 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 International Business Machines Corporation"s Chief Executive Officer, John Opel, and the first woman on the First Interstate Bank of Washington"s board of directors. In 1975, Governor Daniel J. Evans appointed Gates to the Board of Regents for her alma mater, where she led the movement on the board to divest the University of Washington"s holdings in South Africa to protest apartheid.
In addition, Gates served on the UW Foundation Board of Directors, the UW Medical Center Board, and the UW School of Business Administration"s Advisory Board.
In the for-profit world, Gates served for many years on the boards of several major corporations, including: First Interstate Bank of Washington. Unigard Security Insurance Group.
Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Company, which became United States. West Communications. And KIRO Incorporated.
Beyond the Seattle area, Gates was appointed to the board of directors of the national United Way in 1980, becoming the first woman to lead it in 1983.
Her tenure on the national board"s executive committee is believed to have helped Microsoft, based in Seattle, at a crucial time. In 1980, she discussed with John Opel, a fellow committee member who was the chairman of the International Business Machines Corporation, her son"s company. Mr. Opel, by some accounts, mentioned Mistress
Gates to other I.B.M. executives.
A few weeks later, I.B.M. took a chance by hiring Microsoft, then a small software firm, to develop an operating system for its first personal computer. Mary Maxwell Gates died in 1994 at her Laurelhurst home after a months-long bout with breast cancer.
Since then, her family has established two endowments in her name at the UW. The UW"s Mary Gates Hall is named in her honor and houses the UW"s Undergraduate Academic Affairs, the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity, the Center, and the Information School.