Bill Gates away half of its value, as detailed in "The Power of Half". Gates and his wife invited Joan Salwen to Seattle to speak about what the family had done, and on December 9, 2010, Bill and Melinda Gates, and investor Warren Buffett signed a commitment they called the "Giving Pledge." The pledge is a commitment by all three to donate at least half of their wealth over the course of time to charity. Gates has also provided personal donations to educational institutions. In 1999, Gates donated $20 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the construction of a
USS Thomas S. Gates awarded a contract to scrap ex-"Thomas S. Gates" to ESCO Marine, 15 December 2014. She was towed to New Orleans, LA., for scrapping in July 2017. The Naval Vessel Register lists the ships decommissioning and strike date as 16 December 2006. DANFS lists the decommissioning date as 15 December 2005. There is also a pamphlet entitled "USS Thomas S. Gates (CG 51) decommissioning ceremony, 14 December 2005 Naval Station Mayport" OCLC 156786375 listed on Worldcat. The Times-Union of Jacksonville, Florida noted that "USS Gates" (sic) was to decommission today, 14 December 2005. "Thomas S. Gates"'s insignia reflects the government service