Longtime philanthropists Gordon and Betty Moore will on May 16 become only the second recipients of Tall Tree Global Impact Award, the award co-sponsors — the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce and the Palo Alto Weekly — have announced.
• View a photo album from the May 16 awards ceremony here and a video of Gordon Moore making remarks here.
The special award recognizes a community member whose work has had a long, significant influence beyond Palo Alto in the areas of technology, education, environmental stewardship, medicine, the arts or other fields. The Moores, who have funded countless scientific, environmental conservation and health projects and initiatives, were selected unanimously for the award, Chamber officials said.
The only other recipient was former Stanford University President John Hennessy in 2013.
Through the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the couple has funded groundbreaking science research, science and tech museums and health initiatives. They have preserved more than 170 hectares of Andes and Amazon forest and funded conservation of marine ecosystems along North American coasts, according to the foundation’s website.
In the San Francisco Bay Area the foundation has distributed more than $284 million, including $50 million in 2001 to jump-start a campaign by the nonprofit Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) to preserve coastal land. In 2007, they donated $2.3 million toward POST’s purchase of Mindego Hill in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
In 2011 the foundation gave $15 million to the newly formed The Living Landscape Initiative, a partnership of five environmental groups to help protect important open space areas and ecosystems.
In 2016 the foundation gave $2 million to the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority toward the permanent protection of the 2,748-acre Coyote Highlands property.
“The Moores are true icons of social entrepreneurism, using the power of doing well to do good,” Chamber CEO and President Judy Kleinberg said in an email. “Their social and scientific philanthropy is doing as much, and perhaps more, to change our world in positive ways as our region’s advancements in science and engineering.”
Moore was born in San Francisco and met Betty Irene Whittaker while at San Jose State University. They married in 1950.
He co-founded Intel in 1968 and became president and CEO in 1975. He was elected chairman and CEO in 1979 and remained CEO until 1987 and was named chairman emeritus in 1997.
Betty Moore was born in Los Gatos and received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from San Jose College, according to her foundation biography. She has led the foundation in the area of health care, creating the Betty Irene Moore Nursing Initiative in 2003. The nursing initiative works to improve nursing-related patient outcomes in adult-care hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area and Greater Sacramento, according to her biography.
She has served on the board of El Camino Hospital in Mountain View and volunteered at the Palo Alto Senior Day Care Center. She also served as a member of the Filoli Estate governing board and on its fine arts committee.
The Moores have two sons, Kenneth and Steven.
In addition to the Moores, other Tall Tree awardees this year include Winter Dellenbach (Outstanding Citizen), Jim Shelby (Outstanding Professional/Business Person), Presidio Bank (Outstanding Business) and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford (Outstanding Nonprofit).
The Tall Tree Awards will take place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Palo Alto.
More information about the awards, including ticket information, can be found at [online paloaltochamber.com].
We are all made better by the beneficence of Gordon and Betty Moore. A thousand thanks to them for their forward thinking and generosity.