5K Walk in Randy's Memory

Members of the Carnegie Mellon community will be participating in the 5K walk “Pick Up the Pace for Pancreatic Cancer” in memory of Computer Science Professor Randy Pausch at 10 a.m., Sunday, Aug. 17 at the North Park Boathouse in Allison Park. To register and join the team, visit the walk's Web site and click on “Pausch’s People” on the right-hand side of the page. Participants can purchase a “To Honor Randy Pausch” bandanna for $3 by contacting Cleah Schlueter at cleah@cs.cmu.edu, or Vivian Lee at vl@cs.cmu.edu.

Pausch, a celebrated computer scientist who earned his greatest worldwide fame for his inspirational "Last Lecture” which he turned into a bestselling book, died July 25 of complications from pancreatic cancer.  That life-affirming lecture, a call to his students and colleagues to go on without him and do great things and a guide on how to live your life, was delivered at Carnegie Mellon on Sept. 18, 2007, a few weeks after Pausch learned he had just months to live. Titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," the humorous and heartfelt talk was videotaped, and unexpectedly spread around the world via the Internet. Tens of millions of people have since been inspired by viewing video footage of it.

Pausch was an award-winning computer scientist who co-founded the Entertainment Technology Center and created the revolutionary computer programming software took known as “Alice.”  He was also the creator of the popular “Building Virtual Worlds” class.

“Perhaps the greatest lesson, however, Randy taught us all was how to live, even in the face of great challenges, and how to follow our passion,” said President Jared L. Cohon. “We will miss Randy, but we will carry the memory of him and all that he did to make Carnegie Mellon a better university and each of us who knew him a better person.”

A memorial service on campus is being planned for this fall. Details will be announced at a later date. For more on Pausch and his legacy, click here.

Bruce Gerson