The Channel Wire

July 25, 2008

Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon computer science professor, who garnered international acclaim for his "Last Lecture" at Carnegie Mellon University, which he delivered just weeks after it became known that he had incurable pancreatic cancer, has died at the age of 47.

Pausch's last lecture was delivered Sept. 18, 2007. Since then, his video has become an inspiration far beyond the classroom and the computer world. He co-authored a best-selling book, "The Last Lecture," detailing his struggle with the disease and with the development of the material for the lecture, which he meant to leave as a legacy to not only his students but to his three young children.

"I'm attempting to put myself in a bottle that will one day wash up on the beach for my children," Pausch once said.

In his lecture and book he talks of fulfilling childhood dreams of becoming a Disney Imagineer and an "astronaut." The lecture has been viewed tens of millions of times on the Internet since last fall and earlier this year Pausch was a commencement speaker at Carnegie Mellon.

"Randy had an enormous and lasting impact on Carnegie Mellon," said Jared Cohon, president of Carnegie Mellon, in a statement. "He was a brilliant researcher and gifted teacher. His love of teaching, his sense of fun and his brilliance came together in the Alice project, which teaches students computer programming while enabling them to do something fun -- making animated movies and games. Carnegie Mellon -- and the world -- are better places for having had Randy Pausch in them."

Pausch joined Carngie Mellon in 1997 and was instrumental in creating Alice, a computer programming environment that enables beginners to create 3-D animations using a user-friendly interface. He also helped co-found Carnegie Mellon's pioneering Entertainment Technology Center. Pausch is survived by his wife, Jai, and their three children, Dylan, Logan and Chloe.