engineering. In addition to his ability in programming, he was an accomplished musician. At MIT, he joined the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity as a freshman in late 1994. At 16, Gale wrote an important software program called "Total Access", to increase usage of Internet service providers (ISP). He was hired by EarthLink over Christmas break his first year as a student, and took a 3-semester sabbatical from MIT to work at the company, which had been founded by Sky Dayton, a Scientology member and fellow Delphian School alumnus. As director of research and development, Gale developed his program to increase the ability of the company's internet servers to connect customers to the Internet, giving the firm a competitive advantage that helped it ascend to the top ranks among ISPs. It eventually acquired one million customers and a market share worth $2 billion. During his time away from MIT, Gale started indulging in drinking, smoking, gambling, and sex, exploring experiences that were at odds with his earlier religious education. He abandoned Scientology, and compared its methods to the self-parodying Church of the SubGenius. During his time at EarthLink, Gale dated a couple of women, but had difficulties relating to many of his coworkers. His father died from a heart attack in 1995 when Gale was 17. Friends and family said that Gale was profoundly affected by the loss of his father. A year later, he seemed to be struggling with real grief and trying to come to terms with it. Before his 17th birthday he declared legal emancipation, which allowed him to exercise stock options worth about a million dollars at EarthLink, which was about to go public. Return to MIT Gale returned to MIT in 1996. In fall of 1997, he switched from physics to the humanities, becoming a music major and surprising some of his friends. He performed with a chorus and Balinese-style percussion orchestra. With a friend, Gale formed a rock band and played drums. In late 1997 he took a course in Musical Aesthetics and Media Technology with MIT Media Laboratory professor Tod Machover. Machover later said that Gale was "a quiet, serious, unusual, talented and brilliant young man". As an example, Machover said that a week before his death, Gale returned with a proposal for a complex project, having gone in his own direction after some of their preliminary discussions. He proposed to develop a way