Bill Gates Sr. Regents for the University of Washington, and is a co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which his son Bill and his daughter-in-law Melinda founded. He has served as a director for Costco Wholesale, a bulk retail corporation, since 2003. He is also a founding co-chair of the Pacific Health Summit. He has adopted the suffix "Sr." to distinguish himself from his more famous son. Gates is co-author, with Chuck Collins, of the book "Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes", a defense of the policies promoted by the estate tax. He married Mary Maxwell Gates
USS Thomas S. Gates Anne Gates, widow of the ship's namesake. "Thomas S. Gates" was launched 14 December 1985, purchased 22 June 1987, and was commissioned 22 August 1987, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with Captain Robert Sutton in command. "Thomas S. Gates"' maiden deployment was from 31 May 1989 to 10 November 1989. After transiting to the Mediterranean Sea as part of the battle group formed around the aircraft carrier , "Thomas S. Gates" in-chopped to the Sixth Fleet on 10 June 1989; she participated in Operation National Week (10–19 June 1989), conducting turnover with the guided missile cruiser at Augusta Bay, Sicily (15 June).