Philanthropists of the 20th and 21st Century - Essay Example

Philanthropists of the 20th And 21st Century William Henry “Bill” Gates born in October 1955 in Seattle Washington on the 28th is one the biggest philanthropists in America and very well-known as he had several skills that made him what he is. These skills included computer programming, business magnate, inventor and an investor. He has established his status by being the co-founder of Microsoft together with Paul Allen. He has hold positions like the CEO and the chief software architect and was the largest shareholder in the company while at the same time he has written several books. He has being ranked as one of the wealthiest people in the world. People have criticized him of the way he handles his business and that he is anti-competitive of which several cases have been upheld by various court rulings (pg5). It reached a point where he started becoming philanthropic. He started donating huge amounts of money to several charitable organizations and research plans which were scientific through his foundation which was established in 2000 namely the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. At around the year of 2000 he stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft but remained chairman of which he came to create a position for himself, chief software architect. He broadcasted that he will be working part time at Microsoft and full time at his foundation in 2006 and with time stopped working at Microsoft in June 27th, 2008. He acquired a new post, technology advisor, to the newly appointed CEO after he stepped down in February 2014. After Microsoft, Gates bought video rights to the Messenger lectures series and renamed it to The Character of Physical Law. In 2013, Bill Gates became the highest-earning billionaire as his wealth had increased from US$15.8 billion to a whooping US$78.5 billion. Most of his assets by 2014 were held in Cascade Investments of which he owns four Season Hotels and Resorts. In an interview, Gates stated that innovation is the real driver of progress and also said that America was even better in 2014 compared to the past years. As being one of the fifty most eligible bachelors, he married Melinda French in 1994 1st January and they have three children. He has acquired valuable assets like the collection of writings by Da Vinci which was bought for 30.8million at an auction in 1994. He is also known as a heavy reader of which the library’s ceiling of his home is engraved with a quotation from The Great Gatsby (10). The only sports that he is fond of and plays are golf, tennis and bridge. His wealth came to be shortly surpassed to $101 billion which led to the media naming him a “centibillionare”. His holdings at Microsoft were decline when its stock price fell in 2000 after the dot-com bubble burst and also the multi-billion donations he made to his several charitable foundations. He disliked the attention that he got because of being one of the richest people in the world. His several investments outside Microsoft paid him a salary of $616,667 and a bonus of $350,000 adding up to almost a million in 2006. In 1989, he founded a digital imaging company called Corbis and also became a director at Berkshire Hathaway. In 1994, Gates sold some of his stocks to create the William H. Gates Foundation. Both his wife and Gates merged three of the family foundations to form a charitable foundation known as Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in the year 2000. It became one of the richest foundations with assets that amounted to US$34.6 billion and its benefactors were able to get access to the information that shows how their money is being spent unlike other charitable foundations. He said that David Rockefeller’s philanthropy has been a major influence and recognized him as generous too. Both charity work of David and Gates has modeled David’s family according to philanthropic focus of which it led to tackling and solving worldwide problems that the government and other organizations have assumed. Gates and his wife became the second most generous philanthropists in America in 2007 as they have given more than US$28 billion to charity only whereas they have planned of donating 95 percent of their wealth to charity. In order to raise awareness for ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg challenged him to pour a bucket of ice water on his head and posting a video of the same on the internet (pg30). The foundation was later criticized for investing their assets in companies which have been accused of increasing poverty, pollution and pharmaceuticals organizations that don’t sell to developing world. The foundation gave out a review of its investments because of the criticism so as to assess social responsibility. After a while, they cancelled the review and stood firm to its policy as they used voting rights so as to influence company practices. The program Gates Millennium scholars was criticized for excluding the Caucasian students as it was administered by the United Negro College Fund. Walt Disney was born in on December 5, 1901, in Hermosa, Illinois by his father Elias Disney who was an Irish-Canadian and his mother, Flora Call Disney who was German-American in a family of five children one among them being a girl. He spent most of his childhood in Marceline, Missouri where he developed an interest in painting and drawing which ended up becoming a source of income by selling it to his neighbors and family friends. They would later shift to Kansas City in 1911which where he met his uncle Mike Martin who was a train engineer (pg6). Due to his interaction with his uncle, Disney developed an interest in train which landed him in that industry as worker selling newspapers and snacks to travelers. Disney joined McKinley High school in Chicago and due to interest in drawing and painting, he took photography and drawing as course. He also attended Chicago Art institute at night to add more knowledge. At the age of 16 he dropped out of school to join army where he was rejected for being underage. Instead, he joined Red Cross and became an ambulance driver in France. Later, in 1919, he went back to Kansas City and began pursuing a career as a newspaper artist. During this time, he interacted with cartoonists where got more knowledge in that field. Because of that influence he managed to open his own studio where he became an employer for the first time. Tragically, in 1923 Disney declared he was bankrupt as his studio was full of debts. After the setback, Disney and his brother Roy who had joined him in the industry of cartoon, grouped their money together and went to Hollywood. While there Disney met with some people and joined with them to be partners and luckily enough one of them happened to become his wife. During this time part of Disney’s partners dubbed them, this led to production of one of the most famous cartoon by the name Mickey Mouse with animation featuring Mickey as Plane Crazy and The Galloping’ Gaucho even though they did not rock the market. Steamboat Willie was created immediately after sound was introduced in the film. The cartoon made a great impact and Disney started appearing in the list of the wealthy people (pg15). Disney created Silly Symphonies in 1929 featuring Mickey’s newly friends Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto and Goofy. Later on color was introduced in the industry and Disney produced Flowers and Trees which became one of the most popular cartoons making Disney to win Oscar Award for the first time. In 1933, the country was going through a great depression and out of this Disney produced The Three Little Pigs and its title song who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? This became the theme at that particular moment. These two events increased his popularity worldwide making him richer. On 21st December, of 1937, Disney hit the jackpot of $1.499 million and won a total of eight Oscar Awards through production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which was premiered in Los Angeles. Disney’s wealth increased greatly especially from 1939 when he opened a new campus for Walt Disney Studios and production of a number of cartoons. He also became among the first to use television as a medium of entertainment. Disney moved some mile further by creating parks after his name. The first one was Disneyland which cost $ 17 million. The park was opened in the summer of 1955 presided by Ronald Reagan who would later become U.S president. The site became popular with families and children visiting and more so to meet the Disney characters. The park increased its investment greatly as it entertained tourists from all walks of life. Disneyland has spread its wings globally creating parks in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Paris. All this generated wealth to Disney making him wealth hence becoming among the top donors of all time. Even with all the wealth that both philanthropists acquired, they had the same idea of giving out to charity though their mode of gaining wealth was different. The two of them have differences and also similarities. The world is full of great men who made an impact in their own ways and in different capacities. It has been analyzed that both lives of Bill Gates and Walt Disney, with their great achievement which will enable others to focus on how they were able to reach and touch other’s lives hence qualifying to be termed as philanthropists. Gates discovered a self -centered life is void and empty because apart from what he owns, he cannot point out a contribution outside his life therefore he created the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation of which it acted as a bridge to reach out to the less fortunate. This changed the lives of many people through accessing education, health facilities and building of institutions making them to share part of his blessing (pg30). Walt Disney climbed the ladder of popularity through nurturing his own talent of art and through it he achieved what he never thought or dreamt of. As he looked back, he imagined of millions of people with talents which are not utilized or even discovered. To nurture this, he started institutes like California Institute of Art through merging of the Chouinard Art Institute and Los Angeles Conservator of Music to form California Institute of Art. Through this, he was assured that he has given back to the industry for more to be born. The families of these two characters contributed to the impact which they impacted the world with even though in a different angle. Bill Gates’ family influenced him a lot through their teachings on how to give back to the society while Walt Disney’s family became a part of his charitable work assisting him in reaching out to the society. Through the founding of Microsoft, Gates has brought by the creation of jobs thus trying to put an end to unemployment of which up to date it’s still giving out jobs and making products that are user friendly and beneficial. This has helped lowering crimes in the world which is caused by idleness. Also the huge amounts that Gates donated helped the society by his charitable deeds whereas Walt Disney did the same by the creation of parks where families went to explore free of charge. These parks generated money through tourism gaining taxes and revenues for the country and providing jobs to those working in those parks. The parks also beautified the country. Gates donated to the third world countries as he was provoked constant exposure of how poor they were through the media while Walt Disney invested in other people’s lives for the purpose of their future. However, it is seen that both philanthropists had differences which is fully manifested through seeing the purpose of their donations and impacts they contributed to the society. As for Bill Gates, he is seen coming from a rich background whereby even his father was a philanthropist. It has been said that he developed the art of giving back to the society just because his father was a philanthropist concluding that he wanted to maintain the legacy of his family. On the other hand, Walt Disney’s background was not favorable at all because he started working at a very tender age and through his achievement he met setbacks like bankruptcy hence developing the act of giving back to the society knowing fully well what lacks means. Therefore, it was a virtue which he developed. Disney worked through thick and thin to sustain himself and in the process he emerged one of the most successful men on earth. This made him to realize that there are people who are struggling in life and therefore he felt it was good to go back and try to raise the standard of their livelihood out of his willingness. Gates acted out of provocation whereby he discovered through the media that there were countries who were very poor. That means if the media had not taken the responsibility of reporting what is happening in the outer world, Gates wouldn’t have reached out to the society through charitable deeds. According to the media (Los Angeles Times) in 2007, Gates Foundation was criticized for investing in companies like pharmaceuticals that refused to sell its products into the developing world, others which were accused of polluting the environment and increasing poverty (pg11). In relation to this criticism, the foundation gave out a review that reflected its investments to assess social responsibility of which after a while cancelled the review and claimed stand by its policy. Gates had a scholarship program which met criticism by Ernest W. Lefever for discriminating Caucasian students as this program was run by the United Negro College Fund. As for Walt Disney, among all the foundations he created to reach the society, none of it had been criticized because he gave it out without considering who would become a beneficiary. The parks he created were meant to be enjoyed by every person from all walks of life without discriminating who they were. This shows how different the two philanthropists were. Through the introduction of computer and software in the market, Gates simplified the labor used in companies replacing the work which was done by people. Thus, reducing employment in the industry. This made it difficult to secure and maintain a job in the 21st Century as living standards were changing rapidly every now and then. On the other hand, Walt Disney created institutes which produces graduates annually releasing them into the market well equipped to make a living more comfortable than they were before joining those institutes. Walt Disney depended on his income and investments to support the society with unlike Gates who received support from Warren Buffet to reach the society through charitable work. In conclusion, success is obtained in life through various means as it can be seen in the case of Bill Gates, he was born in a well to do family where success was within his domain. This made him to acquire a quality education in a high quality learning system no wonder he managed to lift the world in a new era of computer technology which would not have been achieved without a quality education. On the other hand, Walt Disney was raised in a family whose background was not well up. This made him to discover that apart from education, he had a talent which would later turn him to be a great man in life. Even though he attended school, he chose the line of his talent only to improve the ability within him. This makes him to emerge the best philanthropist between the two. His success can be well traced without any reasonable doubt which can be raised by any normal person by this it meant, no one can dare criticize his achievements and the way he achieved them. One of the major attribute which contributed to the massive impact, he impacted the society with was the will power within him. Even though to him, he might have had a role model, the way he behaved make the observers to eliminate the possibility of Disney emulating someone else and therefore it can be said that the theme of a successful and a profitable life is the will power within a man. Today, Walt Disney is no more after he passed away on December 15th, 1966 leaving a positive mark in the society. Work cited Aronson, Marc. Bill Gates: A Twentieth-Century Life. New York, N.Y: Viking, 2009. Print. Becraft, Michael B. Bill Gates: A Biography. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, 2014. Internet resource. Barrier, J M. The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007. Internet resource. Demuth, Patricia, and Ted Hammond. Who Is Bill Gates? 2013. Internet resource Eliot, Marc. Walt Disney: Hollywoods Dark Prince - a Biography. Deutsch, 1995. Print Gabler, Neal. Walt Disney: The Biography. London: Aurum, 2006. Print. Lesinski, Jeanne M. Bill Gates: Entrepreneur and Philanthropist. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books, 2009. Print. Krasniewicz, Louise, and Walt Disney. Walt Disney: A Biography. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood, 2010. Print. Preszler, June. Walt Disney: A Photo-Illustrated Biography. Mankato, Minn: Bridgestone Books, 2004. Print. Schuman, Michael. Bill Gates: Computer Mogul and Philanthropist. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 2007. Print. Stewart, Whitney, and Nancy Harrison. Who Was Walt Disney?New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 2009. Internet resource. Read More