Randy Pausch - my 376th pick to be honored as a Disney Legend

Dr. Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in computer science. He was diagnosed in 2006 with terminal pancreatic cancer and told that he had only months to live. The school had an ongoing lecture series called "the last lecture" in which professors were asked to prepare a lecture as if it would be the last one they would ever deliver. For Randy Pausch, it became the truth. Though Dr. Pausch lived a decent while longer than his prognosis suggested, he passed away on July 25, 2008.

Randy Pausch did some consulting during sabbaticals for Imagineering and helped develop the virtual reality Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride that had was featured at Epcot and Disneyland during the 90's. Randy also spoke a lot about his childhood dream to work for WDI and the persistence it took to realize that dream.

He gave an upbeat lecture titled "The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" on September 18, 2007, at Carnegie Mellon, which became a popular YouTube video and led to other media appearances. He then co-authored a book called The Last Lecture on the same theme, which became a New York Times best-seller. 

A memorial plaque with a quote from Dr. Pausch was also recently added outside the Mad Tea Party attraction at the Magic Kingdom in his honor  -

"Be good at something; it makes you valuable. Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome."
- Randy Pausch