PITTSBURGH — A Carnegie Mellon University professor whose "last lecture" of his life's lessons became an Internet sensation was celebrated Monday for challenging people to strive for more than they thought they were capable of, while remembering to have fun.

About 400 colleagues and friends gathered at Carnegie Mellon to remember Randy Pausch, a professor of computer science, human-computer interaction and design, who was recognized as a pioneer of virtual reality research. He died of cancer in July, 10 months after giving the lecture that touched millions worldwide. He was 47.

Pausch had the ability to resonate with so many people because they "instantly understood he was the real deal, a genuine hero, in an age when more conventional heroes, especially political leaders (and) sports figures, all too often, turn out to have feet of clay," said Brown University professor Andy van Dam, Pausch's mentor.

Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September 2006. A year later, he gave the 76-minute speech that became the inspiration for a book "The Last Lecture," co-written with Wall Street Journal writer Jeffrey Zaslow.