New York — The Intenet is flooded with condolences as the news spreads that Rajeev Motwani, the much-admired Stanford University professor of computer science from India, and widely acknowledged for guiding such sparkling Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and Paypal Inc. died in a freak drowning accident at his Bay area home on Friday, sending the tech community into extreme somberness.
Motwani, who was born in Jammu, and grew up in New Delhi, India, graduated from IIT Kanpur, and received his Ph.D. in computer science from U.C. Berkeley in 1988, was found lying in the swimming pool of his Palo Alto home he purchased three years ago.
So far, no official word about the cause of death has been established, but friends and local reports said he did not know how to swim and may have drowned accidentally.
Paramedics were called when his body was found, and he was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:28 pm, according to the San Mateo County coroner’s office.
Motwani, who was only 47 and in the prime of his academic and professional career, is survived by his wife, Asha Jadeja, and daughters Naitri and Anya.
News of Motwani’s death took the close-knit and well-networked Silicon Valley tech community by surprise. Messages swarmed through emails, blogs, Facebook entries, and Twitter feeds, as scores of techies and gearheads who had thrived under his tutelage, mentorship, and affection, opened their hearts.
Among the first to deliver a tribute was Sergey Brin of Google, who along with his co-founder Larry Page, were Motwani’s students in grad school at Stanford and worked closely with him as they founded Google.
In his first blog entry in nine months, Brin recalled: “Officially, Rajeev was not my advisor, and yet he played just as big a role in my research, education, and professional development,” Brin wrote on his blog Friday. “In addition to being a brilliant computer scientist, Rajeev was a very kind and amicable person and his door was always open. No matter what was going on with my life or work, I could always stop by his office for an interesting conversation and a friendly smile.”
Widely praised for his investing acumen, Motwani was a special adviser to Sequoia Capital and invested in companies including PayPal and Google early on –- he will be best remembered for mentoring numerous Stanford graduate students.
Prior to his engagement with Google, Motwani established the Mining Data at Stanford project (MIDAS), an umbrella organization for several groups looking into new and innovative data management concepts. His research spanned a wide range of areas in computer science, including databases, data mining, and data privacy; Web search and information retrieval; robotics; computational drug design; and theoretical computer science.
Motwani was a nurturing force for many startups, according to close friend and GigaOm editor Om Malik. As an investor and advisor, he sat on the boards of Google, Kaboodle, Mimosa Systems, Adchemy, Baynote, Vuclip and Stanford Student Enterprises, among many others. He was also active in the Business Association of Stanford Engineering Students (BASES).
He authored two books–"Randomized Algorithms," and an undergraduate textbook published by in 2001. Among other honors, he won the prestigious 2001 Godel Prize, which is awarded for excellence in the field of theoretical computer science.
Wrote Brin: “Today, whenever you use a piece of technology, there is a good chance a little bit of Rajeev Motwani is behind it.”
Silicon Valley angel investor Ron Conway pays further tribute to Motwani in the video below, saying, "He shared my attitude that the more entrepreneurs you can help, even if you only give them five minutes, go do it. He never refused a meeting with an entrepreneur that I suggested he meet just to give them some quick advice."