President Obama – Bill Gates

Bill Gates supported President Obama with his attendance at the fundraising lunch at the mansion of Jeff and Susan Brotman on February 17, 2012. This event was reported today in The Seattle Times. The Times reported the $17,900 per plate brunch was attended by approximately 70 people. Natalie Cole performed and the lunch was prepared by renowned chef, Tom Douglas. An earlier post has more information on the event.

Gates and Brotman are Medina neighbors with Jeff Bezos’ mansions in between. The Brotman mansion is in the exclusive cove of Medina that includes Nathan Myhrvold’s T-Rex house, Charles Simonyi’s Windows 2000 house and Gary Reed’s former estate. Cruising, boating and viewing this area is featured in Lake Washington Cruising blog posts (5/8/11 and 5/4/11).

Jeff is the Chairman and co-founder of Costco. The mansion, as reported in the New York Times and my earlier post, is known as “Their Art House.”

The A through F letters in the above picture of Gates’ mansion and convention center refer to a “Guide For Viewing Gates’ Mansion From the Water.” The page number on all the above mansion pictures refer to Lake Washington 130 Homes.

Obama – Brotman Brunch

President Obama will return to the Brotmans for a fundraising brunch on February 17, 2012. This was reported in the Seattle Times in an Associated Press article on February 1. The $17,900 per plate brunch will be at the mansion of Jeff and Susan Brotman. The funds will be used for Obama’s reelection campaign and to support the Democratic National Committee. The Brotmans previously hosted a $7,500 per plate Democratic fundraising lunch with Michelle Obama on October 25, 2010. The mansion is in the exclusive cove of Medina that includes Nathan Myhrvold’s T-Rex house, Charles Simonyi’s Window 2000 house and Gary Reed’s former estate. The mansion is on page 98 in Lake Washington 130 Homes.

Jeff is the Chairman and co-founder of Costco. The mansion, as reported in the New York Times, is known as “Their Art House” that includes monumental pieces by Richard Serra and James Turrell. The house was designed by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects who are known for designing art-galleries-cum-residences. The louvers on the front (water side) and roof of the house adjust to provide the optimum natural light on the extensive art collection.

Jeff Brotman Hosts Michelle Obama

Jeff and Susan Brotman hosted lunch with Michelle Obama at their Medina mansion on October 25, 2010. The lunch was a fundraiser for US Senator Patty Murray’s (Democrat Washington) reelection. Table captains pledged $7500 each. The mansion is in the exclusive cove of Medina that includes Nathan Myhrvold’s T-Rex house, Charles Simonyi’s Window 2000 house and Gary Reed’s former estate. The mansion is on page 98 in Lake Washington 130 Homes.

Jeff is the Chairman and co-founder of Costco. The mansion is also known as “their Art House” that includes monumental pieces by Richard Serra and James Turrell. The house was designed by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects who are known for designing art-galleries-cum-residences (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/13/magazine/footnotes-100439.html?pagewanted=2). The louvers on the front (water side) and roof of the house adjust to provide the opitimun natural light on the extensive art collection.

Nathan Myhrvold’s T-Rex House

Nathan Myhrvold became fascinated with dinosaurs and visited the filming of the “Jurassic Park” sequel in 1996 and met the film’s consultant and world-leading paleontologist, Jack Horner. Horner convinced Nathan to use some of his Microsoft multimillions to fund a dinosaur bone digging foundation. His foundation has recovered more tyrannosaurus rex skeletons than the total previously found by everyone else. He has given most of them to museums including the Smithsonian. In-side the big rounded windows of his living room he has one of the t-rex skeletons he helped dig up.

He co-founded Bellevue-based Intellectual Ventures in 2000 and the company has been featured in recent news. Intellectual Ventures invests in invention. The company has created and purchased thousands of patents and original inventions with the purpose of protecting the inventors and collecting royalties from larger companies. Nathan personally holds 18 U.S. patents and has applications pending for 100 more. He was born in Seattle, earned a PhD in theoretical and mathematical physics from Princeton at the age of 23 in 1981. He joined a computer startup company, Dynamical Systems, Inc., and became CEO. The company was purchased by Microsoft in 1986 and he joined Microsoft as Chief Technology Officer. He is a prize winning nature and wildlife photographer and a master French chef, occasionally working as an assistant chef at top-of-the-line restaurants.

The mansion along with more information is in my book, Lake Washington 130 Homes, on page 97 (www.hundredhomes.net).