Joel Allen Firehammer of Brookline, MA passed away on February 4th, 2020, in Boston at the age of 52. Joel was born in St. Joseph, Michigan and graduated from St. Joseph High School in 1986. He earned a BA and a PhD in Engineering at Brown University in 1990 and 1999, respectively, and a Masters from Stanford in between. After several years in New York City, Joel moved to Brookline in 2006 and considered Boston to be his 'home city." He most recently worked as the director of software engineering at TriNetX, Inc based in Cambridge. He excelled at collaboration in the software design process and relished the excitement of new start-up projects, most notably during his years at DataSynapse throughout the 2000s. Joel's passions included cycling, skiing and spending time on Cape Cod. He had an incredible gift for cooking, entertaining, and for making everyone around him feel welcome and comfortable. He cherished the friendships he made throughout the different phases of his life and was happiest when he was cheering on any of Boston's sports teams with his family and close friends. He is survived by his wife, Elisabeth Preis, and his three beloved children, Jackson, Scarlett, and Delilah. He is also survived by his three brothers and their wives, Jon (Suzy) of Moscow, ID; Jeremy (Gabriela) of Fallbrook, CA; and Jamie (Tasha) of Encinitas, CA; and his loving parents James and Judith Firehammer of Peoria, AZ. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to the Herren Project at PO Box 131, Portsmouth, RI 02871 or online at herrenproject.org. A private memorial service will be held in his honor in late February.