Few women seem more down-to-earth than Melinda French Gates – and yet the ex-Microsoft executive and mother-of-three is one of the richest women in the world. Worth a staggering US$11 billion, according to Forbes, the 59-year-old continues to use her platform to make others’ lives better, particularly women, and hasn’t shied away from discussing difficulties in her own personal life either. Recently, she made an appearance at the White House state dinner for Kenya’s president and first lady, with her son Rory as her plus one.
She was also in headlines last month, when she stepped down from the Gates Foundation. Here’s what you need to know about the inspirational figure. What is Melinda French Gates’ family background? {"@context":"https://schema.
org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"A young Melinda Ann French in Banff National Park in Canada. Photo: @melindafrenchgates/Instagram","url":"https://cdn.i-scmp.
com/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/06/07/c6f9cf64-1b5e-4cb5-9004-da9d8780e393_de019856.jpg"} A young Melinda Ann French in Banff National Park in Canada. Photo: @melindafrenchgates/Instagram Melinda Ann French was born on August 15, 1964, in Dallas, Texas.
Her father, an aerospace engineer who worked for Nasa, encouraged her keen interest in science and technology from a young age, even telling her she should learn to code, she recalled once in a post on X (formerly Twitter). After graduating from the prestigious Duke University, she became a marketin.
