Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), previously branded as the 'William H. Gates Foundation', is a private foundation founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It was launched in 2000, and is said to be the largest private foundation in the United States, holding $50.7 billion in assets. The primary aims of the foundation are, globally, to enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty, and, in the US, to expand educational opportunities and access to information technology. The foundation, based in Seattle, Washington, is controlled by its three trustees: Bill and Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffett. Other
USS Thomas S. Gates to Istanbul, where she disembarked VADM Ilg (9–10 August). Owing to the crisis in Lebanon, which had dictated that the fleet flagship, guided missile cruiser not carry out her scheduled visit to Sevastopol, "Thomas S. Gates" then operated in support of the "Coral Sea" and battle groups off Beirut. Returning to Toulon, "Thomas S. Gates" there underwent a period of maintenance (7–13 September). After taking part in NATO Exercise Display Determination 89 (14 September- 3 October) in concert with units of the French and Turkish Navies, she conducted a period of escort operations (3–11 October) as she transited to the