Suzanne Cluett

Suzanne Cluett, 63, "who was also the first employee at PATH, the Seattle organization that has launched and managed many of the Gates Foundation's most ambitious global health projects, died Tuesday [January 2006] afternoon from breast cancer that had spread to her brain...

"Cluett, born in Enumclaw, was already on a mission. Starting as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal during the mid-1960s, she had long been devoted to working with women internationally on issues of health, education and empowerment.

""That's where we met," said her husband, Dr. Chris Cluett, a scientist who works at the Seattle office of Battelle. Chris Cluett also served in Nepal during the first years of the Peace Corps. Both stayed in Nepal for an additional three years to work for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

"In 1968, the Cluetts returned to Seattle and lived near Gates Sr. and his wife. Both families have been active supporters of Planned Parenthood, and they sometimes saw one another at those events...

"Dr. Gordon Perkin, one of the founders of PATH, the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, and former director for global health at the Gates Foundation, also worked closely with Suzanne during her 16 years as administrative vice president for PATH."

• Former Associate Director, William H. Gates Foundation