Randy Pausch was the "Most Inspiring Person of 2008," according to the editors of Beliefnet.com, a religion and spirituality Web site.

"Pausch was selected because of his huge, far-reaching impact and because even after his death he continues to inspire legions of viewers," the editors explained. "Pausch's lecture, delivered for a small audience at Carnegie Mellon University where he was a professor of computer science, became an Internet phenomenon. ... By 2008, his inspiration had reached almost 20 million people, His message was simple and powerful: 'We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.'"

The two other finalists were the Midwestern Boy Scouts who responded heroically when a tornado struck their camp in Iowa last June and Steven Curtis Chapman, a Christian music star and adoption advocate who became a model for suffering parents after the accidental death of his adopted daughter.

Beliefnet,a subsidiary of Fox Digital Media and Fox Entertainment Group, claims a daily email newsletter readership of nearly 11 million subscribers. It won the 2007 National Magazine award for General Excellence Online.

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