Early Microsoft employee, a suicide, leaves $65 million to gay causes

The late Ric Weiland, employee no. 5 at Microsoft, left a $65 million fortune to the Pride Foundation of Seattle, a gay and lesbian nonprofit. Weiland committed suicide in 2006 at the age of 53. He's said to have struggled with depression. But depression is a medical diagnosis, not the explanation for a life. One wonders what he struggled with: Not likely loneliness, since his partner, Mike Schaefer, survived him. And not likely overt prejudice, since Seattle is among the most painfully politically correct of cities. His legacy, and this mystery, are all we have left of Weiland.