Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch, the computer science professor who rose to fame after giving a quirky last lecture about celebrating life in the face of his terminal cancer, died Friday.

The 47-year-old died at his home in Chesapeake, Va., according to Wall Street Journal columnist Jeffrey Zaslow, who helped launch Pausch to fame after writing about the speech — which also garnered widespread attention when it was posted on video sharing site YouTube.

When Pausch was offered a deal to write a book expanding on his lecture, Zaslow co-authored the non-fiction title. The Last Lecture became a bestseller.

"It was the most fun 53 days of my life because it was like a performance," Zaslow said. "It was like getting 53 extra lectures."

A pioneer in the field of virtual reality who became a professor at his alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University, Pausch also co-founded the school's Entertainment Technology Center and developed programs to make teaching computer science and animation more fun for high school and post-secondary students.

He also helped develop the Alice 3D-animation software and had stints at Walt Disney and Electronic Arts.

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