Randy Pausch, 1960-2008

Randy Pausch was an inspiration to many, energetic and enthusiastic about his work and finding opportunities to make computing technology more accessible and useful to people. The Alice program that he was instrumental in bringing about has started to be used to teach programming to children in schools in Ohio—something I became aware of recently through my work with the Ohio Department of Education. His “Last Lecture” (shown nearby) became a tremendous hit for good reason: he stared death in the face and gave his all in a celebration of life. If you haven't seen this lecture, you absolutely must see it.