Randy Pausch, the inspirational professor from Carnegie Mellon, has died. Pausch became famous after he gave his "last lecture" ….traditionally a way for a retiring academic to sum up his life’s work. Randy Pausch, however, wasn’t retiring: he was dying from pancreatic cancer. The lecture itself is quite amazing: Pausch’s fun, intelligence and yes, lust for life, shine through gloriously.

Here’s some of the reports:

Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon University professor who discussed his fight with pancreatic cancer in an inspirational speech and subsequent book, “The Last Lecture,” died of the disease, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported, citing the university. He was 47.
Pausch, who taught computer science at the Pittsburgh school for 10 years, delivered the lecture to a standing-room- only crowd last September, the Post-Gazette said. Focusing on his life’s lessons and how to fulfill childhood dreams, the speech was later viewed by more than 6 million people on the Internet, the newspaper said.

This is an excellent summation of the message of Pausch’s lecture:

Just heard that Prof. Randy Pausch has died. He’s the Carnegie Mellon comp-sci professor whose classroom lectures on facing his own terminal illness generated a huge online following that became a bestselling book, The Last Lecture.
His amusing, self-effacting delivery made him a YouTube hit, but he was more than a transitory pop-culture phenom. There’s an enduring message here about living and dying with grace and gratefulness that reached millions of people, especially young adults, who might not have previously given those huge topics much thought.
His enduring line: "You cannot change the cards you are dealt, just how you play the hand." Randy Pausch accepted a lousy hand and played it brilliantly. Vaya con Dios.

For a full (and it must be said, a very decent) obituary of Randy Pausch try this

AP’s version is a little lighter.

Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist whose
"last lecture" about facing terminal cancer became an Internet
sensation and a best-selling book, died Friday. He was 47.

Pausch
died at his home in Virginia, university spokeswoman Anne Watzman said.
Pausch and his family moved there last fall to be closer to his wife’s
relatives.

Pausch was diagnosed with incurable pancreatic cancer
in September 2006. His popular last lecture at Carnegie Mellon in
September 2007 garnered international attention and was viewed by
millions on the Internet.

In it, Pausch celebrated living the life he had always dreamed of instead of concentrating on impending death.

"The
lecture was for my kids, but if others are finding value in it, that is
wonderful," Pausch wrote on his Web site. "But rest assured; I’m hardly
unique."

If you want a taste of what that Last Lecture was like, watch this.

The lecture lead to a best selling book.

And here he is 6 months later (no, neither he nor anyone else expected him to live that long).

And finally, if you want the whole lecture (it’s an hour long) here it is.

We’ve lost a good one folks, we’ve lost one of the good ones.