A third Gates, Bill Sr., an
accomplished lawyer, is Stonesifer's cochair of
the foundation. As a full-time paid employee
(Stonesifer, who did well financially at Microsoft,
is unpaid), he administers Pacific Northwest grant
making. Their work, Gates Sr. says, requires
patience and focus. "Very little of what we do
lends itself easily to quantitative analysis,"
he says. Separate from his foundation activities, he
has been a strong advocate of retaining estate taxes
on wealthy individuals like his son--who has said
that virtually all of his personal fortune will end
up in the foundation.
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Stonesifer is not one to
draw attention to herself. In Tacoma, for example,
her sole visible accouterment was a tiny paper
notepad. The black cover bears the Gates Foundation
logo and, at the bottom, a motto emblazoned on much
of the foundation's literature: "Imagine
the Possibilities." Stonesifer is urgently
trying to make those possibilities a reality. In her
eager and direct way, she quotes William Foege, a
senior adviser on global health to the foundation.
"Bill talks about being great ancestors"
to the generations to come, Stonesifer says.
"That's my goal."
