I believe the world lost a very special person today. Randy Pausch died today at the age of 47 from pancreatic cancer.

Randy Pausch pictured with is wife and three children

Randy was a Computer Science professor at Carnegie Melon University. Randy gained fame last year when he gave €œ”The Last Lecture”€ speech. I believe this is a speech everyone needs to hear at least once in their lifetime. I covered this story on my webpage back on September 21st, 2007. Click here for the original article.

He developed a computer program called Alice. http://www.alice.org/ Alice teaches computer programming in a way never envisioned. It is considered to be responsible for a rebound of grades and Computer Science degrees.

Being an avid Star Trek fan, Randy has a cameo in the upcoming Star Trek movie due out later this year.

ABC News declared him one of its three “Persons of the Year” for 2007. TIME magazine named him to its list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

ABC’s Diane Sawyer will be hosting a program on Tuesday, June 29th at 10:00pm. I would encourage you to watch. I promise you will be inspired by his story!

Pictured to the right Randy surrounded by his wife Jai who is holding daughter Chloe. On his lap are sons Logan and Dylan.