|  On September 18, 2007, Carnegie Mellon professor and alumnus Randy Pausch delivered a one-of-a-kind lecture that made the world stop and pay attention. They had come to see him give what was billed as his "last lecture." This is a common title for talks on college campuses today, in which top professors are asked to think deeply about what matters to them and to give hypothetical final talks. For Randy, it wasn't hypothetical. With slides of his CT scans, Randy told his audience about the cancer that was devouring his pancreas and that would claim his life in a matter of months.
Randy's lecture became an Internet sensation viewed by millions, an international media story, and a best-selling book that has been published in 35 languages. Sadly, Randy lost his battle to pancreatic cancer on July 25, 2008.  The book, The Last Lecture, co-written by Jeffrey Zaslow combines the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made Randy's lecture such a phenomenon. Zaslow, a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, attended the last lecture, and wrote the story that helped fuel worldwide interest in it.
From 1987 to 2001, Zaslow worked at the Chicago Sun-Times as the replacement advice columnist for Ann Landers, winning the job over 12,000 other applicants. He won the Will Rogers Humanitarian Award in 2000 for his work as a columnist. Zaslow lives in West Bloomfield, Michigan with his wife and three daughters. Watch the video on YouTube... |
