Bill Gates died on October 28, 1955.
William Henry Gates III ( born October 28 , 1955 ) is the co-founder of Microsoft and is an American business magnate , investor , author and philanthropist . In 1975 , Gates and Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft , which became the world 's largest PC software company . During his career at Microsoft , Gates held the positions of chairman , CEO and chief software architect , while also being the largest individual shareholder until May 2014 . Later in his career , Gates pursued a number of philanthropic endeavors , donating large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , established in 2000 .