Randy Pausch passed away today. Death pisses me off, especially when the dead people are fairly young and were exceptional human beings. (Apparently that means I don’t care if old a**holes die). Anyway, Randy Pausch was a Carnegie Mellon professor who taught and researched computer science, human-computer interaction and design, and was considered one of the pioneers of virtual reality research.

He was best known to the non-tech world for the Last Lecture he gave at Carnegie Mellon after being diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer, entitled Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. The book he co-wrote with Wall Street Journal writer Jeffrey Zaslow (via cell phone dictation), The Last Lecture, has been on the best-seller list for months.

He was smart, funny, straightforward, and a pretty happy guy both before and after his diagnosis. His students loved him, and as soon as the rest of the world met him via YouTube, they loved him as well.

I think what made the most profound impression on me was the fact that he didn’t do some sappy-ass tear-jerking farewell lecture. He used his final lecture as a way to tell his wife and kids what his childhood dreams had been, how he had gone about trying to realize those dreams, and what he learned from the achievement (or sometimes not quite) of each item on his list.

His lecture was certainly moving, but I wasn’t watching it and thinking words like heartbreaking, bittersweet and poetic. I was thinking, “This guy has always paid attention to what other people had to teach him.” The priceless bits of knowledge he gleaned while moving through life and working his way down his list of childhood dreams are uncomplicated and perfect. If you haven’t already, I would highly recommend watching his lecture.

Further Reading:

Associated Press: Prof whose ‘last lecture’ became a sensation dies

The Legacy of Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch: The dying man who taught America how to live

Posted by Alexa Harrington