For the co-author of ‘Last Lecture,’ a profound lesson
Dying professor gives world a gift
When Wall Street Journal writer Jeffrey Zaslow went to Carnegie Mellon University last September to hear a “last lecture” from a professor facing terminal cancer, he wasn’t even sure if it would turn out to be a story for his newspaper column.
But actually, Zaslow’s column and 4 1/2-minute video clip of Randy Pausch giving the lecture turned out to be an international sensation.
“The day he died,” Zaslow said Wednesday, “I got hundreds and hundreds of e-mails, and a lot of them said, ‘I cried for a stranger.’ ”
Zaslow spoke to more than 200 people in the Jewish Community Center’s Benderson Building on North Forest Road in Getzville about his experience co-authoring, with Pausch, the best-selling book “The Last Lecture.”
“Nothing I’ve written about in my career equals the story of Randy Pausch,” Zaslow said.
Tens of millions know the story by now.
On Sept. 18, 2007, Pausch delivered a speech as part of a Carnegie Mellon series, where professors are asked to give a hypothetical final talk on what matters to them most.
It was real for Pausch, a computer scientist who had been diagnosed with incurable pancreatic cancer and had only months to live.
Rather than focus on his impending death, Pausch was upbeat, humorous and inspirational. He described how he had fulfilled almost all of his childhood dreams, and, at the same time, the lecture offered others advice on how to make the most of their lives.
Pausch wasn’t even sure if he wanted to write a book, Zaslow said. However, if he spent much of his remaining time collaborating with Zaslow, he wanted to make sure they had fun.
For 53 days, from November to January, Zaslow spent an hour a day on the phone talking with Pausch. Writing the last chapter was the most emotional because it meant not only the end of the lecture and the book, but of Pausch’s life.
“I think we both choked up only then,” Zaslow said. “Other than that, we had a lot of fun.”
Pausch wasn’t the saint or superman that many now portray him to be, Zaslow said.
There were times, Zaslow said, that Pausch and his wife, Jai, would wake up at 3 a. m. and cry. But he still had young children to care for and took one day at a time.
“I’m not grateful for my cancer,” Pausch would say, “but I’m grateful for the chance to say goodbye.”
Pausch died on July 25 at the age of 47.
“The Last Lecture” still remains on best-seller lists since coming out in April and is printed in 38 languages around the world.
“The message is we’re all dying,” Zaslow said. “If you have kids, hug them. If you have grandkids, hug them. And make the most of each day.”
