Although Leslie Gates has a reputation as a hard-charging engineer, he also is well-known in both his home state and profession for coming to the aid of others. After graduating from Virginia Tech in 1940 with a degree in civil engineering and a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, he began his military service in World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Mr. Gates served as the Executive Officer of the 300th Engineer Combat Battalion through five battles in Europe. He was among those who crossed the English Channel into Normandy on D-Day Plus Three.



Returning after the war to his hometown of Beckley, West Virginia, Mr. Gates joined his father's business, the Ferguson-Gates Engineering Company. By 1958 he had become the sole owner and soon realized he could not develop the business he envisioned by relying solely on West Virginia's economy. To solve this problem, he expanded the company's activities into mining operations, highway construction and architectural planning. "I really wanted to build a firm that could compete," he says. "My motivation was pride for West Virginia, and I was always irritated that so many of the state road commission's projects went to out-of-state companies."



Mr. Gates also decided to increase the company's territory, first opening new in-state offices in Charleston and Beckley. After securing a contract from Bechtel, the world's largest mining firm, Ferguson-Gates opened an office in Denver. "That was a big break for us," recalls Mr. Gates, who quickly followed with offices in Chicago and Pittsburgh and, later, in Sydney, Australia. In 1961, he changed the name to Gates Engineering Company.



Continuing expansion, Gates Engineering began a different type of work with banks, producing economic development plans to establish the viability of a loan. The company achieved an excellent reputation in the financial arena. "In fact, our company was one that the Bank of New York always recommended," Mr. Gates says.



Mr. Gates has also put his business acumen to good use in philanthropic endeavors. During the 1980s, he and several other Beckley professional and business leaders decided to establish the Beckley Area Foundation to provide for scholarships and other local needs. The foundation started with $1,100,000 from the Walker Foundation and now is worth about $13 million.



In 1999, Mr. Gates became President of the Forward Southern West Virginia non-profit corporation, previously known as Beckley Downtown. Under his leadership, the organization is training middle school teachers in business practices, helping to improve the state's health care system improvement, working on the development of the business and technology I-64 corridor from White Sulfur Springs to Beckley, promoting tourism year round, and heightening awareness of the importance of energy around the state.



Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia credits Mr. Gates with a pivotal role in obtaining support for the recently built Robert C. Byrd U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building in Beckley. Fittingly, the address of the $40 million building is Leslie C. Gates Place.



In addition to helping his community and state, Mr. Gates was instrumental in improving retirement for many engineers. During his term as President of the National Society of Professional Engineers from 1974 to 1975, he teamed with Sen. Jacob Javitts of New York in sponsoring a bill to permit the movement of retirement benefits from one engineering firm to another. "The nature of engineers is to move around a lot, especially in the early years of their careers," explains Mr. Gates. "They would often lose retirement benefits." Congress passed the bill, and when President Gerald Ford signed it into law in the Rose Garden, Mr. Gates was one of the invited guests.



Today, Mr. Gates remains active in public service and also as chairman of his son's engineering firm, the L.A. Gates Company. His wife, Anneva Covey Gates, is a physician.