On May 29, at the age of 84, Bill Clapp, a well-known Seattle philanthropist and civic leader, died after complications from pneumonia. His family announced that he passed away surrounded by loved ones. Clapp, whom the Dalai Lama once called an “unassuming hero of compassion,” left a significant philanthropic legacy both in Seattle and beyond.
He founded organizations such as Global Washington and the Initiative for Global Development, and, together with his wife Paula, established Global Partnerships and the Seattle International Foundation. Clapp was guided by the philosophy that “savannas have no pockets.” That phrase reflected his belief that wealth should not be buried with its owner but used for the public good.
In a sign of special friendship, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus left Clapp a moving voice message thanking him for his contributions to making the world better. Yunus inspired Clapp to launch Global Partnerships—an initiative that, like Yunus’s Grameen Bank, provides microloans to those in need. Another close friend, Jennifer Potter, recalls how Clapp found $300,000 to fund an idea about children in poverty for the closing ceremony of the Goodwill Games, despite doubts about financing. Those games—an international sporting event founded by Ted Turner in 1986—took place in Seattle in 1990 and became a significant event for the city, drawing attention to its development as a global hub and stimulating the local economy and growth of the philanthropic sector.
After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, concerned about rising anti-American sentiment, Clapp decided to change the dialogue among business leaders. In partnership with the Gates family foundation, where Bill Gates Sr.—a noted attorney, philanthropist and father of the Microsoft cofounder, who in 2000 helped establish the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and actively promoted ideas of “effective altruism”—played a key role, he organized dinners for leading entrepreneurs to open their eyes to the problems of economic inequality. This led to the creation of the Initiative for Global Development, in which former Governor Dan Evans and other prominent figures also played important roles.
Clapp was born in Tacoma in 1941 to Evelyn and Norton Clapp and was a great-grandson of a co-founder of the Weyerhaeuser company. He began his career as a bush pilot in Alaska, then returned to Washington to manage the family business. His passion for aviation remained with him throughout his life.
University professor Akhtar Badshah notes that “millions of people changed their lives because of his vision and investments around the world.” Sally Jewell, a former U.S. secretary of the interior, emphasizes that Clapp sought sustainable change in disadvantaged communities through economic opportunity.
Clapp is survived by his wife Paula; sons Andrew and Ned and their families; stepdaughters and a stepson; and siblings. The family requests that donations in Bill’s memory be made to Global Partnerships and Native Americans in Philanthropy (NAIP) instead of flowers. NAIP is a nonprofit founded in 2005 that promotes Indigenous leadership in philanthropy and directs resources to support Native American communities, aiming to address systemic issues resulting from historical policies of assimilation and discrimination in Washington state, which is the traditional territory of many tribes. The date of the memorial will be announced later.
