http://www.nypost.com/news/1315.htm
GATE$: MY DOUGH WILL GO BEFORE I LOG OFF
By KIRSTEN DANIS
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The richest man in the world is giving almost all of it away.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife plan to devote most of their $105
billion fortune to wiping out deadly diseases such as AIDS and malaria, the
Sunday Times of London reported today.
"Melinda and I want our children - and all children - to grow up in a world
without AIDS," Gates said.
The astonishing move would turn Gates' charitable foundation into by far the
biggest benefactor in the world.
But the billionaire computer geek won't leave his two kids in the poor
house - he's setting aside $21 million for their inheritance.
The William H. Gates Foundation, the family charity run by Gates' father,
will announce in the next three months how it plans to become the largest
charity on Earth.
"My son is going to have critics all his life because of his wealth. But I'm
optimistic we have put to rest any criticism on the basis of his not being
sufficiently generous," Gates Sr. told the newspaper.
The foundation now has about $10.3 billion in its coffers, making it the
fifth largest private charity in the world. The London-based Glaxco Wellcome
Foundation is the largest, with $16.6 billion.
Now embroiled in an anti-trust suit with the federal government, Gates Jr.,
43, expects to cash out his Microsoft holdings and divert almost all of his
wealth to the foundation before he and his wife die.
Most of the money would be devoted to the search for vaccines for killer
communicable diseases.
Gates Jr. and Melinda have been worried about world health issues since
visiting South Africa and India in 1995, his father said.
Earlier this year, Gates gave $2.23 billion to the William H. Gates
Foundation and $1.11 to the Gates Learning Foundation. He also gave $20
million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Gates, father of the Windows operating system, has come under fire for
making relatively paltry donations - especially computer gifts critics
contend hook young users on his product.
But Gates, a self-made man, has read Andrew Carnegie's "The Gospel of Truth"
several times and loves the quote, "The man who dies rich dies in disgrace."
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