WASHINGTON: Rajeev Motwani, the highly-acclaimed Stanford University professor of computer science and mentor of Google’s co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, died in a swimming pool accident at his home in Atherton, California on Friday.
Motwani, 47, a native of New Delhi who received his PhD from UC Berkeley in 1988 and became a Silicon Valley angel investor, played a key role in the creation of Google internet search engine. Motwani is survived by his wife Asha Jadeja and daughters Naitri and Anya. The family will hold a private funeral, but a memorial service will be held later, the university said.
“Today, whenever you use a piece of technology, there is a good chance a little bit of Rajeev Motwani is behind it,” Brin wrote on his blog following the professor’s death. “When Larry and I began to work together on the research that would lead to Google, Rajeev was there to support us and guide us through challenges, both technical and organisational... Officially, Rajeev was not my advisor, and yet he played just as big a role in my research, education, and professional development. In addition to being a brilliant computer scientist, Rajeev was a very kind and amicable person and his door was always open.”
Motwani had major investments in companies including Google and Paypal. Among his numerous honours, he won the prestigious 2001 Godel Prize, which is awarded for excellence in the field of theoretical computer science.
A spokesman for the university said the cause of death was unclear. Reports citing Motwani’s friends said he could not swim, but was planning to learn. Some reports speculated that Motwani, who regularly worked late into the night, could have accidentally fallen into the pool.