As Zack Fortune grew up with a single mother in Orlando, Florida, he developed a special relationship with his Grandpa Tharp. Zack spent a lot of time as a boy at Tharp’s auto body shop, tinkering and repairing cars and talking about his plans to “make it big” in business and take care of his mom.

“They were close,” said Zack’s aunt, Jenny La Sala. “They were joined at the hip.” Tharp appreciated his grandson’s ambition, and told him, “Go build your own empire.”

In 1999, shortly before Zack’s twelfth birthday, he and his family suffered a blow: Grandpa Tharp was struck and killed by a van. “It had a tremendous impact on all of us, but on Zack especially,” his aunt recalled. “But those years, they had helped him grow into a wonderful young man. He was very positive. He never let anything stop him.”

When Zack moved to New York City at the age of 23, he set about building his empire – not in cars but music. He built his reputation as a producer, engineer and DJ, and was planning to move to L.A. “He was on the verge of making it,” La Sala said. “But he is with his beloved Grandpa now.”