Libby native gives back

Sam Moreau, Microsoft design director, donated a total of $71,500 to organizations in Libby last week. 

Moreau, who graduated from Libby High School, gave $35,000 to Libby Public Schools and $36,500 to the Center For Asbestos Related Disease.

Moreau was awarded the Microsoft technical achievement award, and chose to give a portion of his award money to the two Libby organizations.

“I have a strong personal connection to Libby and feel thankful for all that was given to me growing up in the community,” Moreau said in a press release. “The horizon-expanding efforts of great teachers such as Rose Goyen and Bill Chalgren were pivotal in shaping my education and worldview.

“My hope is that these donations will provide an opportunity for young minds to grow and passionate people, such as Dr. Black, to cure or comfort the sick.”

Betty Jo Wood, the development officer for the Center for Asbestos Related Disease, said the board did not yet know how the money would be spent.

“It was a wonderful gift,” Wood said. “His (Moreau’s) heart always lives with his hometown.”

The Microsoft technical recognition awards are designed to spotlight outstanding technical achievement. Microsoft gives out three awards every year: the lifetime achievement award, a technical leadership  award, and one for outstanding achievement.

Chalgren, one of Moreau’s teachers at Libby High School, oversaw a computer class in the late 1980s. His students learned the structure of how the machines themselves worked, so they could program and design using files structures, word processing and spreadsheets.

After high school, Moreau attended Montana State University, but in his third year he moved back to Libby to take care of his mother, who was battling cancer. After her death, Moreau moved to California and began making Web pages for Stanford University.

Moreau went on to spend 13 years in Silicon Valley at companies such as Yahoo!, Diesel Design and NewMedia Magazine. He has been working at Microsoft since 2006 and was a central part in shaping the more modern  design principles of Microsoft’s Windows 8.