Last Lecturer Randy Pausch Dies of Cancer

Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon professor whose "last lecture" became an international phenomenon, succumbed in his long battle with cancer today, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. Pausch, 47, was a noted computer scientist before he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but it was his final, inspirational address—now read by more than 6 million people—that made him famous.

Pausch also created a book from the speech, which has been translated into 30 languages. When he gave the school's commencement address in May, Pausch already had lived three months longer than doctors had predicted, leading one friend to say he was “beating the Reaper.” “But we don’t beat the Reaper by living longer,” Pausch said. “We beat the Reaper by living well.” (More obituary stories.)