Rajeev Motwani, the mentor of the students who founded Google passed away. The professor at Stanford completed his B-tech in computer science from IIT Kanpur in 1983 and went on to do his doctorate from U.C. Berkley.

I first read about Rajeev in the Google Story by David A Wise. Today was the second time I encountered his name while checking out Google trends.
Finding more about him on the search magic he helped build made my eyes moist.

Shivanand Kanavi, a theoritical physicist from IIT Kanpur wrote on his blog, just before the Google IPO was launched - "Motwani’s father was in the Indian Army, which meant growing up all over India. Young Motwani wanted to be a mathematician..."

OM Malik, a friend of Rajeev Motwani writes: "My day is ending with a broken heart and tears in my eyes. It is the day which reminds you of the unpredictability of life."

Although I don't have a direct connection with Rajeev, he has become a source of inspiration for me as I embark on my research. The news of his demise is sad but his contribution to the society is something that should encourage others to make path breaking discoveries in future.