Robert Balch
Robert William Balch is a sociologist from the University of Montana. Balch is best known for his studies of Heaven's Gate (with David Taylor), the Aryan Nations, and the Love Family. Heaven's Gate. Balch found a UFO flyer for Heaven's Gate at a Christian coffeehouse in Sedona, Arizona. At the time Balch was on unpaid leave from University of Montana. He called up graduate student David Taylor, asking him to drop everything and move with him to California. He and Taylor joined Heaven's Gate for 3 months in the 1970s, traveling with the cult  and secretly taking extensive notes on his experience before eventually leaving to go resume his life. After leaving Heaven's Gate, Balch and Taylor published articles about Heaven's Gate. Eventually, they lost track of Heaven's Gate in the late 1970s. Balch's work as a sociologist took off from his studying of Heaven's Gate. He held a reunion for surviving ex-members in the late 90s that included "Ti"'s daughter.