• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechBusinessperson of the Year

Bill and Melinda Gates to Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
Down Arrow Button Icon
Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
Down Arrow Button Icon
November 17, 2016, 10:53 AM ET
Bill Gates, Melinda Gates
Bill and Melinda Gates are interviewed in New York, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015. As the world decides on the most crucial goals for the next 15 years in defeating poverty, disease and hunger, the $42 billion Gates Foundation announces its own ambitious agenda. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)Photograph by Seth Wenig — AP

Philanthropic pioneers Bill and Melinda Gates will be among the recipients of President Barack Obama’s final presidential medal of freedom to be presented November 22 at the White House.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which manages an endowment fund worth nearly $40 billion, has invested $36 billion to date in projects to fight malaria and tuberculosis and other global health and education initiatives. Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft (MSFT) in 1982 and has pledged to donate most of his fortune to charity. Billionaire Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett also contributes to the foundation.

The honorees were announced Wednesday in a White House statement.

Other tech luminaries on the list include Richard Garwin, a physicist who helped design the first hydrogen bomb. Garwin also headed up Applied Research at the IBM (IBM)Thomas J. Watson Research Center and is an IBM Fellow emeritus. He won the National Medal of Science in 2002.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

Mathematician Margaret Hamilton, who lead the development of on-board flight software for NASA’s Apollo space effort, will also be honored.

Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, the pioneering software programmer, will be honored posthumously. Hopper wrote the first software compiler and contributed much to the creation of the COBOL programming language, which helped drive the computer age.

For more on Bill and Melinda Gates, watch:

Other honorees include basketball great and activist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; Native American activist Eloise Cobell; entertainers Tom Hanks, Ellen DeGeneres, Robert De Niro, and Diana Ross; Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels, NBA great Michael Jordan; sports broadcaster Vin Scully; attorney Newt Minnow; artist Maya Lin; and architect Frank Gehry.

About the Author
Barb Darrow
By Barb Darrow
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
Fortune Secondary Logo
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

AIAnthropic
Anthropic’s investors could be the key to ending its Pentagon standoff—but some investors have opposite views
By Jessica MathewsMarch 5, 2026
7 hours ago
AIGoogle
Google’s AI chatbot convinced a man they were in love. It then allegedly told him to stage a ‘mass casualty attack’ in newly released lawsuit
By Jake AngeloMarch 5, 2026
7 hours ago
Startups & VentureBillionaires
Silicon Valley legend Vinod Khosla has ‘no plans to leave California’ amid billionaire tax uproar—but he has another idea to fix the wealth loophole
By Nick LichtenbergMarch 5, 2026
9 hours ago
Side-by-side photos of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei
AIEye on AI
The Anthropic–OpenAI feud and their Pentagon dispute expose a deeper problem with AI safety
By Sharon GoldmanMarch 5, 2026
11 hours ago
Sam Altman speaking.
AIOpenAI
OpenAI launches GPT-5.4, its most powerful model for enterprise work—and a direct shot at Anthropic
By Beatrice NolanMarch 5, 2026
11 hours ago
shlomo
CommentaryMarkets
Tech billionaire Shlomo Kramer: the cyber selloff proved that Wall Street can’t price tech anymore
By Shlomo KramerMarch 5, 2026
13 hours ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Health
Palantir and other tech companies are stocking offices with nicotine products to increase worker productivity
By Catherina GioinoMarch 4, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Uber CEO says his ‘really demanding’ work culture includes expecting employees to answer his emails over the weekend: ‘Don’t come here if you want to coast’
By Emma BurleighMarch 4, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Newsletters
The Iran war is giving rise to a centuries-old economic theory—and laying waste to the WTO-based world order
By Diane BradyMarch 5, 2026
20 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Trump's loss of $1.7 trillion in tariff revenue will send the national debt to $58 trillion by 2036, think tank projects
By Nick LichtenbergMarch 5, 2026
14 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Tech investor Bill Gurley says workers who went through the ‘college conveyor belt’ and chased safe jobs are at high risk of AI automation
By Emma BurleighMarch 3, 2026
3 days ago
placeholder alt text
AI
OpenAI investor Vinod Khosla predicts today’s 5-year-olds won’t ever need to get jobs thanks to AI
By Sasha RogelbergMarch 4, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.