Photo: World Economic Forum / CC BY-SA 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
Born on August 15, 1964 in Dallas, Texas, United States, Melinda Gates is a businessperson, patron of the arts and philanthropist. As of 2026, Melinda Gates is 62 years old. Education on record includes Duke University. Awards on record include Jefferson Awards for Public Service (2002), Time Person of the Year (2005), honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge (2009) and 4 more.
My Take
I find Melinda French Gates far more interesting than the billionaire's-ex-wife framing allows. She earned a computer science degree and an MBA at Duke, then shipped products at Microsoft in the late eighties when few women did, and she brought that same engineer's discipline to philanthropy, measuring outcomes instead of just signing checks. What I respect most is the post-divorce chapter: she kept her own name on the work and doubled down on women's health and economic power. Time honored her in 2005, but to my eye her real influence has only grown since she started operating solo.
This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Melinda Gates
- Name (Japanese)
- メリンダ・フレンチ・ゲイツ
- Reading
- めりんだ・ふれんち・げいつ
- Born
- August 15, 1964 (age 62)
- Origin
- Dallas, Texas, United States
- Occupation
- businessperson / patron of the arts / philanthropist / founder / entrepreneur
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Leo / Dragon
2. Background
- University
- Duke University
Awards & achievements
- 2002 Jefferson Awards for Public Service
- 2005 Time Person of the Year
- 2009 honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge
- 2013 honorary doctor of the Duke University
- 2013 Forbes list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women
- Padma Bhushan
- 2014 Chatham House Prize
3. Links
- Official sitehttps://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspx
- Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/melindafrenchgates/
- Xhttps://x.com/melindagates
- Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melinda%20French%20Gates
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%A1%E3%83%AA%E3%83%B3%E3%83%80%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%84
- Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q463877
4. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.
Frequently asked questions
When was Melinda Gates born?
Born August 15, 1964 (age 62).
Where is Melinda Gates from?
Melinda Gates is from Dallas, Texas, United States.
What does Melinda Gates do?
Melinda Gates works as businessperson, patron of the arts, philanthropist, founder, entrepreneur.
Businessperson — see all → · Patron of the arts — see all → · More people from the United States →