Miriam Lubow: 1935-2008: Microsoft loses the 'Mama' of its early years

Miriam Lubow didn't know what software was before she was hired as an office administrator at a tiny Albuquerque, N.M., company in 1977. And she certainly didn't expect the boss to look as if he were still in high school.

Then Bill Gates walked through the door, acting like he owned the place.

"I said, 'What? That kid is the president?' " Lubow recalled last month, laughing as she told the legendary story of her initial days at Microsoft.

Lubow, whose motherly presence earned her the nickname "Mama" among Microsoft's early employees, died Tuesday. She was 72. Diagnosed with liver cancer last year, Lubow lived long enough to take part in a recent reunion of early employees to mark Gates' departure from day-to-day life at the company.

Born in Italy, Lubow came to the U.S. in 1940, escaping the Holocaust. After returning to Europe and learning five languages at an interpreter's school, she came back to the U.S. and married her husband, Milton, in 1960, according to information provided by her family. After they moved to Albuquerque, she answered an ad in which a fledgling Microsoft sought a "Girl Friday."

"I did just about everything," Lubow said last month. "Running errands, taking care of the office, bringing Bill lunch. He never ate lunch, so I, as a mother, decided that was not good. And I offered to bring him hamburgers every day. That was his steady diet."

Steve Wood, the former Microsoft general manager who hired Lubow, remembered her Thursday as an extraordinarily upbeat and practical person who was able to take on all sorts of challenges in the early days of the company – office supplies, preparing for customer visits, travel arrangements, bookkeeping issues and collections.

Within a week of Lubow starting the job, Wood recalled, it became clear that she would also fill the role of office mom.

"She took care of us," Wood said. "She paid attention to stuff that the rest of us geeks just weren't that inclined to pay attention to."

As Lubow recalled, she worked at Microsoft on and off for about 10 years, moving when it came to the Seattle area. She ultimately settled in Kirkland. Despite her early position at the company, she was not a Microsoft millionaire, she said. Her husband didn't believe in computers, she said, and he decided to sell their shares in the company.

"Nobody could have thought it was going to get this big," she said.

After her cancer diagnosis, Lubow made a point of getting together individually with people from the early days of the company, including Gates, company co-founder Paul Allen, and Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer. She called it her "farewell tour."

"I'm thanking everybody for having been such a wonderful part of my life," Lubow said last month. "It's difficult ... yet I'm grateful that I'm able to do this, because some people just drop dead on the golf course and don't have time to say goodbye, or thank you."

Lubow is survived by her husband, Milton Lubow; children Michelle, Stephanie, Yvonne and Warren; and six grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at Congregation Kol Ami, which meets at Woodinville's Bear Creek Church.

SEATTLEPI.COM

Listen to Miriam Lubow describe when she first met Bill Gates: goto.seattlepi.com/r1569