Daniel C. Lewin, co-
founder and
CTO of
Akamai Technologies, was murdered on
September 11, 2001 on
American Airlines Flight 11, when it
crashed into the
World Trade Center. Danny will be sorely missed by all those he left behind, including his wife and two sons, and all the
Akamites.
From his bio:
Danny Lewin founded Akamai in September 1998, along with Tom Leighton and a leading group of Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists and business professionals. As chief technology officer, he drives Akamai's research and development strategy.
Danny is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Algorithms Group at MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science. He has published and presented several breakthrough papers at top computer science conferences and is the recipient of several awards, including the 1998 Morris Joseph Lewin Award for Best Masterworks Thesis Presentation at MIT. His master's thesis includes some of the fundamental algorithms that make up the core of Akamai's Freeflow system.
Previously, Danny worked at IBM's research laboratory in Haifa, Israel, where he was a full-time research fellow and project leader while simultaneously completing two undergraduate degrees at the Technion, Israel's premier technology university. In 1995, Technion named him the year's Outstanding Student in Computer Engineering.
At IBM, he was responsible for the development and support of the company's Genesys system, a processor verification tool that is used widely within IBM and in other companies such as AMD and SGS Thompson.
Born in Denver, CO, and raised in Jerusalem, Danny is an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, having served in the country's military for more than four years. He holds a bachelor of arts and of science, summa cum laude, from Technion. He also holds a master's degree from MIT.
Update: The
flight attendant who called in from
American Airlines Flight 11 reported that one of the
business class passengers had already been killed. Danny was in business class. Odds are, Danny was that passenger - he would not have sat idly by as the terrorists killed another.
/me misses Danny.