June 09, 2009

Google co-founder Segrey Brin took to his personal blog this weekend after a nine month hiatus to pay homage to mentor Rajeev Motwani, who passed away on Friday.

Motwani was found dead in his swimming pool. He did not know how to swim, but was planning to take lessons, the Mercury News reports.

Motwani was a professor and director of graduate studies in the computer science department at Stanford University, where Brin earned his master's degree in 1995.

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. "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.

When Brin's research turned to data mining, Motwani helped coordinate regular meeting groups, Brin said.

"Later, 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 organizational," he wrote.

Today, whenever you use a piece of technology, there is a good chance a little bit of Rajeev Motwani is behind it," Brin concluded.

Dave Morin, a senior platform manager at Facebook, also blogged about Motwani. "Rajeev was a heralded mentor, advisor and investor to countless startups in Silicon Valley and many related to the work we do at Facebook with Facebook Platform. Not to mention his inspiration in the beginnings of Google," Morin wrote.