charles c. gates jr. was trustee emeritus of the gates family foundation, a large, colorado-based charitable organization that has distributed over $147 million in grants over its 60-year history. he also sat on the boards of many other organizations, including the denver museum of nature & science, home to gates planetarium. he attended graland country day school, class of 1934, and endowed the school to create an invention competition called the gates invention and innovation competition. his namesake event has been held annually since 2000.