Randy Pausch, the former Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, died Friday at 47 of terminal cancer. He became known around the world for his "last lecture" at Carnegie Mellon in September 2007. Professor Pausch is survived by his wife, Jai, and their three children, his mother and sister.

He was both funny and inspirational for the millions who watched his lecture or bought the book "The Last Lecture". Professor Randy Pausch titled his lecture "Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," touching everything from education and leadership to dating, converting to Macintosh on his deathbed and his love of Star Trek.

Randy Pausch was diagnosed with incurable pancreatic cancer in September 2006 and sought the most aggressive treatments for the often deadly disease, but without success. He was a master teacher, using excellent showmanship and humor to teach his students and make them like what they learn.

His fame started with the attendance of his lecture "Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," given at Carnegie Mellon in September 2007, by Jeff Zaslow, a columnist with The Wall Street Journal. He publicized the great speech and, subsequently, 10 million people watched a video of it on the Internet, while a New York Times bestseller was published, under the title "The Last Lecture".

Professor Pausch's death was preceded by a day by a message by an anonymous friend on his webpage, indicating cancer progression further than what was expected from recent PET scans and suggesting that Randy Pausch was dying and was into a hospice program providing palliative care to those at the end of life.

Pausch received his bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Brown University and his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University, and co-founded CMU's Entertainment Technology Center (ETC). Professor Pausch was also the author or co-author of five books and over 70 articles and the founder of the Alice software project.