My first job in college involved helping them build the first Car Talk web site (it was around 1994). All of the graphics were drawn on paper and scanned in, an

My first job in college involved helping them build the first Car Talk web site (it was around 1994). All of the graphics were drawn on paper and scanned in, and I spent hours converting their recordings into (IIRC) RealAudio format so people could livestream them. (Downsampling / compression at the time was far from real-time.) They were both great guys to work with, who seemed genuinely surprised at their own fame and came to everything with genuine humor, warmth and without the slightest hint of ego. Out of all the notable MIT alumni, they're my favorite and I was really happy when they finally got invited to speak at commencement. (I'd also argue that the guys at Top Gear owe them some credit for pioneering a "show about cars" that's really just entertainment.) It's a terrible loss, but at least Tom will live on for many years in the form of all those recorded hours of (somewhat auto-related) entertainment. The world is a little less happy and funny today without him, though.