William Henry “Bill” Gates (more commonly known as “Bill” Gates) is an American philanthropist, investor, programmer, and model. William Henry Gates was the chief executive officer and president of one of the world's most successful personal computer software companies, Microsoft, which he co-founded with Paul Allen. William Henry Gates was also consistently ranked by Forbes magazine as the world's number one richest person from 1995 to 2009, with the exception of 2008, when he was ranked third. According to Bloomberg's Billionaires List, Gates is the richest person in the world as of 2013, a position he last held on the list in 2007. "Bill" Gates was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington . His father, William H. Gates, was a prominent attorney, and his mother, Mary Maxwell Gates, served on the boards of First Interstate Bancsystem and the United Way. When he was younger, his family strongly encouraged competition and a visitor remarked that whatever the game or sport, there was always a reward for winning and a penalty for losing, which may have developed the attitude of the all or nothing by “Bill” Gates. At the age of 13, his parents enrolled him at Lakeside School, a very exclusive and expensive private school. A year later, when he was in eighth grade, the school's Mothers Club used proceeds from the Lakeside school rummage sale to purchase a Teletype Model 33 ASR terminal and a block of computer time on a General Electric computer for the school's students. Bill became passionately interested in programming the revolutionary system and was even excused from math classes to pursue his new passion. The first working program he developed was a modified version of a t...... middle of paper ...... r investing its assets in companies accused of worsening poverty, heavy pollution as well as pharmaceutical companies that do not sell to developing companies. In response to press criticism, the foundation announced in 2007 a review of its investments, in order to assess its social responsibility. It subsequently canceled the review and maintained its policy of investing for maximum return, while using voting rights to influence company practices. The Gates Millennium Scholars program was criticized by Ernest W. Lefever for its exclusion of Caucasian students. The scholarship program is administered by the United Negro College Fund. http://gawker.com/bill-gates-is-kind-of-a-dick-1543988636 http://www.billgatesfamily.com/ http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100708033101AACTrbuhttp ://billgatesinformation.blogspot.com/p/early-life.html