Carnegie Mellon University professor Dan Siewiorek once told Randy Pausch that he was proud of him for letting the world know about his fight against pancreatic cancer.

"And I told him that I never thought I would know someone who had appeared on 'Oprah' and the cover of Parade magazine. Randy's response was that I should raise my goals."

It was that image -- of a man who never took himself too seriously despite his unexpected leap into worldwide fame -- that came through again and again yesterday during Carnegie Mellon's memorial ceremony for Dr. Pausch, who died July 25 at the age of 47.

The memorial was held a year and four days after the computer science professor's famous last lecture, in which he told his audience that he was dying of cancer, but said he wanted to concentrate on how blessed he had been to live out his life's dreams.

The video of the lecture went on to be viewed by millions around the world on the Internet, and a subsequent book has 4 million copies in print and has been on the New York Times' best-seller list for 23 weeks.

But it was much more Randy Pausch the man than Randy Pausch the icon who was celebrated by yesterday's speakers.

One of his first mentors, Brown University professor Andy van Dam, showed a photo of Dr. Pausch laughing as he opened his undergraduate diploma.

At least he thought it was a diploma. But Dr. van Dam had actually inserted a Chinese menu, in honor of the student who would always go to a Chinese restaurant with his colleagues, even though he wouldn't touch spicy food.

When he thought about his former student's remarkable story, Dr. van Dam asked himself:

"Why did Randy strike such an astonishing chord? Why did he become the most famous computer scientist who ever lived?

"I believe that people instantly understood that he was the real deal, a genuine hero, in an age when more conventional heroes, especially political leaders and sports figures, often turn out to have feet of clay."

Part of Dr. Pausch's mixture of humility and brashness, said others, came from his constant boyish wonder.

Dennis Proffitt, a University of Virginia psychology professor who once taught virtual reality courses with Dr. Pausch, recalled a time when they both were at a conference in Florida and Dr. Proffitt decided to visit Disney World for the first time.

"After an hour or so," he said, "I discovered Disney World is pointless unless you're with a child."

So the next day, he said, "I went to Disney World with Randy, and then I saw it through the eyes of a child. At the end of that day, Randy said, 'Denny, Denny, they're going to close soon -- we've got to hurry.' And what that meant was that Randy knew where the very, very best place was to stand to watch the fireworks go off, and it was wonderful."

Don Marinelli, who co-founded the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon, which taught video game and virtual reality courses, marveled at how two such different people were able to mesh.

"Here was this tall, dark, handsome, healthy, brilliant and charismatic scientist with looks better suited to being one of the Beach Boys than a professor of computer science," Dr. Marinelli said, "and by contrast, I am a full-fledged Italian-American from Brooklyn, N.Y., a lifelong actor who despite possessing a Ph.D., seems better suited to playing the role of the overweight Italian relative or a Mafia hit man."

Together, he said, they managed to create one of the most popular graduate school programs on campus, and "Randy and I quickly became the Carnegie Mellon version of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito in 'Twins.' "

Carnegie Mellon President Jared Cohon said that when Dr. Pausch came to him in 2006 to tell him he had cancer, the professor spent more time trying to reassure Dr. Cohon than the other way around, promising the president that Dr. Pausch's programs and students were in good shape and would be able to continue.

As a tribute, the school is naming a footbridge between the new Gates School for Computer Science and the Purnell Center for the Arts for Dr. Pausch, he said, and gave the Gates center's architect, Mack Scogin, the job of figuring out how to symbolize the professor's legacy.

Mr. Scogin chose Chapter 39 in Dr. Pausch's book, in which he explained that he created a "first penguin" award in his virtual reality course for the team of students who had experienced the most glorious failure.

"The title of the award came from the notion that when penguins are about to jump into water that might contain predators, well, somebody's got to be the first penguin," he wrote.

Mr. Scogin has created an etching pattern based on penguins leaping off an ice floe that will cover the walls of the walkway and be backlit with an LED display, Dr. Cohon said.

Future generations of students will come to Carnegie Mellon who will not know Dr. Pausch, Dr. Cohon said, but who may be inspired to ask about him when they are struck by the beauty of the walkway.

"And when they ask," he said, "we will tell them."