The New York Times

Friday, December 10, 1999

Mandela and Gates Talk Philanthropy

By SAM HOWE VERHOVEK

SEATTLE -- Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa, had breakfast Thursday morning at the Lake Washington estate of the chairman of the Microsoft Corporation, William H. Gates. "I told Bill and Melinda that I haven't got a word in English to describe my impression of the house," Mandela recounted afterward. "I don't think 'beautiful,' or 'exquisite,' is enough."

Elsewhere during the three-day visit here that began on Wednesday, Mandela took the baton and led the Seattle Symphony and a high-school choir in a rendition of the South African national anthem. He smiled graciously at a public school when questions from students were read aloud, and one wanted to know what he had done with his "spare time" during 27 years in prison.

Among the subjects that Gates and Mandela discussed was a $750 million fund that Gates is setting up to help vaccinate children in developing countries against deadly diseases. They also discussed a newly formed foundation established by Mandela to promote health care and education across the African continent.

The Nobel Peace laureate sought Gates's support for his new foundation. He also implored business leaders here and across the country to get involved in a crusade to develop vaccines, including one against the AIDS virus, and distribute them to rich and poor alike around the world.

"Children across Africa die every day because they don't have access to vaccines that children in communities like Seattle take for granted," the 81-year-old former president and anti-apartheid leader said today at a global health forum at the University of Washington here.

That Mandela and his wife, Graca Machel, would choose to make a relatively extended trip to Seattle is a powerful demonstration of the growing role of philanthropies based here in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle is home to three of the world's richest men ( Gates, the Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and Microsoft's president, Steve Ballmer), and the foundation established by Gates and his wife recently became the biggest philanthropic organization in the world.

The Craig and Susan McCaw Foundation, also based here, helped to sponsor the trip.

Seattle was to be the only stop on his trip to this country, but the White House said Thursday that Mandela was likely to stop off briefly in Florida on Saturday on his way home to meet with President Clinton, who will be speaking to the state Democratic convention there. The two plan to discuss Middle East peace talks.

Mandela's visit here has clearly given a needed lift to a city still reeling from the aftermath of the protests that engulfed the streets during last week's meeting here of the World Trade Organization.

During a brief interview Thursday morning, Mandela and Gates were all smiles.

Mandela spoke repeatedly of the need to develop a vaccine against AIDS.

After Gates spoke with some passion about his desire to develop vaccines for a whole host of diseases, Mandela rose and mockingly chided him for "a very important omission" in his list.

"There needs to be a vaccine against old age," the elder statesman deadpanned, as his audience broke into laughter and cheers. "I hope that Bill will go to work to develop that vaccine."