Columnist says he had low expectations for ‘Last Lecture’ that ultimately changed his, other’s life

When Wall Street Journal columnist Jeffrey Zaslow planned to attend a lecture being given by Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch in September 2007, he didn't have very high expectations.

“When I went I hoped he'd have 850 interesting words for me,” Zaslow said.

The trip was almost canceled when plane tickets were going to cost more than $800, but Zaslow talked to Pausch the night before the event and thought his idea was intriguing. He drove the more than 300 miles to Pittsburgh, Pa., to hear the lecture.

“I went out there to write a column, and it became so much more than that,” Zaslow said by telephone from his office in Southfield, Mich.

Zaslow and Pausch formed a friendship that led to the book, “The Last Lecture.”

Pausch's lecture, part of the school's “Last Lecture” series, opened with his declaration that he had pancreatic cancer and then went on to include childhood dreams, achieving his own goals and how to help others reach their own. The lecture was an address to his own children but quickly became a global interest: Pausch and Zaslow created a highlights video and within hours, thousands of viewers had seen it on the Internet.

The story is one that will never be replicated, Zaslow said.

“It's really amazing that he's still touching people,” he said. “I have a sense that he'll be touching people that aren't yet born.”

“The main message is that time is all we have,” Zaslow said. “One day we're going to find out we have less than we think, what are we going to do with it?”

Zaslow was in Cedar Rapids Friday to give a presentation based on the book, “Lessons of the Last Lecture.” He spoke at the Cedar Rapids Marriott.