William Gates II Lawyer

WILLIAM GATES II, who has died at 94, was a lawyer and philanthropist who was perhaps best known as the father of Bill Gates III, founder of the technology firm Microsoft.

He made his fortune in the law, having co- founded one of the world’s largest legal practitioners, Preston, Gates and Ellis, now known as K and L Gates. It was one of the first to work with the burgeoning technology industry in the northwestern US.

Mr Gates Sr grew up in Bremerton, Washington, where his parents owned a furniture shop. He joined the Army following his first year at the University of Washington and was on his way to Japan at the time of the surrender in 1945.

He served a year in Tokyo before returning home to resume his education, earning his law degree in 1950 and moving into a private practice.

A towering figure who stood 6ft 7in tall, his influence was felt on at least one corporation of the late 20th century other than Microsoft. The former Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz recalled that when he was struggling to raise the money to buy what was then a chain of just six coffee shops, Mr Gates stepped in to warn off a rival bidder.

“You are going to stand down and this kid is going to realise his dream – do you understand me?”, he apparently told the other party.

Mr Gates retired from the law in 1998 and took on prominent roles within the Gates Foundation founded by his son, helping launch its work in global health.

Bill Gates Jr was one of his three children with his first wife, Mary Maxwell, whom he met at the University of Washington. She died in 1994, and two years later he married Mimi Gardner, who was then director of the Seattle Art Museum. She survives him.