Bill Gates Sr., father of Microsoft’s co-founder, dies at 94

William H. Gates Sr., a lawyer raised in the Great Depression who helped his son give away an immense fortune, has died. He was 94.

He died Monday at his beach home on Hood Canal, Washington, according to Bill Gates III’s family office. The cause was Alzheimer’s disease.

Gates saw his middle child grow from a headstrong boy to one of the most admired business leaders of his generation who became the world’s second richest person, with a net worth of more than $123 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. When Bill Gates started giving away the billions he’d made as co-founder of Microsoft Corp. he turned to his father to advise his charitable foundation.