Rest In Peace Randy Pausch

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand" - Randy Pausch

Randy's family announced today that he had passed away from pancreatic cancer. I had written about the last lecture Randy gave last September at Carnegie Mellon after he had been told he only had months to live. The lecture was titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" and has had millions of views on YouTube. Here's the video of the speech. If you have not seen it - it's worth a watch. If you have seen it - it's worth another watch.



In addition to the video, Randy and Jeffrey Zaslow wrote a book based on the lecture titled The Last Lecture. Amazon asked Andy some questions about the book - here's a piece of how he described it:

The book is a far more personal look at my childhood dreams and all the lessons I've learned. Putting words on paper, I've found, was a better way for me to share all the yearnings I have regarding my wife, children and other loved ones. I knew I couldn't have gone into those subjects on stage without getting emotional.

The book is even better than the lecture.

Randy's wife Jai released a statement this morning - here's a piece of it:

Randy was so happy and proud that the lecture and book inspired parents to revisit their priorities, particularly their relationships with their children. The outpouring of cards and e-mails really sustained him.

Randy will be greatly missed.

Randy Pausch: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand" - Randy Pausch

Maybe you've heard of Randy Pausch - he's a 47 year old Carnegie Mellon Computer Science Professor and founder of the Alice software project. In September 2006, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and on September 18, 2007, after learning the cancer had spread, Randy gave his last lecture at Carnegie Mellon, titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams".

According to his Wikipedia entry, the talk was modeled after an ongoing series of lectures where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical "final talk," i.e., "what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?"

I've linked the video below where Randy discusses his childhood dreams, enabling the dreams of others and lessons learned. It's 76 minutes long and worth every single second of watching.



In addition to this video, maybe you caught the Diane Sawyer piece on ABC News last week. Also, Carnegie Mellon has put up a site on Randy's lecture here and Randy has just completed a book based on the lecture.

Randy is still alive and writing about his experience fighting pancreatic cancer here.