Draft:Erik Cassel

American software developer (1967–2013) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Erik Stefan Cassel (December 16, 1967 – February 11, 2013) was an American entrepreneur, engineer, and software developer. He is best known as the co-founder of Roblox Corporation, along with David Baszucki. Cassel remained involved in Roblox's development until his death from cancer in 2013.

  • Comment: Unfortunately, the Business Insider piece is not enough to demonstrate Cassel's notability, as all other sources give him either only incidental coverage or none at all. A note to future reviewers that attempts have been made to improve this draft and I would not recommend rejecting it fully in spite of the many, many reviews. Devonian Wombat (talk) 11:33, 18 May 2026 (UTC)
  • Comment: Please stop resubmitting this article without substantial changes to the sourcing. See previous AFC comments. SomeoneDreaming (talk) 14:54, 26 April 2026 (UTC)
  • Comment: Do not remove or selectively alter AFC templates or comments left by other users as you did in these edits. Bobby Cohn 🍁 (talk) 13:46, 9 April 2026 (UTC)
  • Comment: Please ensure everything under 'Roblox' and 'Health problems' is cited. GGOTCC 19:10, 8 September 2025 (UTC)
  • Comment: Very large portions of this article are still being sourced by two sources: Business Insider and Sportskeeda, both which contain significant coverage but neither of which are particularly long articles. For biography with detailed personal sections per WP:BLP, it's not ideal that this is basically needing to paraphrase or rely on what one or two sources say for most of the article that doesn't directly relate to Knowledge Revolution or Roblox, which raises the question against WP:INHERITED whether the current sourcing really supports an independent biography. There's got to be more print media or reliable coverage about this person out there? ＶＲＸＣＥＳ (talk) 21:19, 1 February 2025 (UTC)
  • Comment: No improvement since last decline, the latest reason for decline is "Can you find better sources than WP:FINDAGRAVE and WP:YOUTUBE?"
    However, the latest submission still including Youtube links for citation, that's unreliable source. In fact, google patent is also a weird source, you may want to link the specific patent. -Lemonaka 06:44, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
  • Comment: Again, the only source here that seems to demonstrate notability is Business Insider. Nothing else here seems usable towards demonstrating notability. λ NegativeMP1 00:20, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
  • Comment: Per Jovanmilic97, the Business Insider reference is reliable and contributes to verifying the notability of the subject, but it's the only such source as the other two do not verify notability. The Filmifeed link is either entered incorrectly, dead, or does not exist, and the obituary does not verify notability. If more sources like the Business Insider source (i.e. independent, reliable sources) can be found, the draft will likely be accepted. Waddles 🗩 🖉 01:16, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
  • Comment: The Business Insider reference is good, but multiple such sources are required to meet the notability guidelines. Jovanmilic97 (talk) 10:39, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
  • Comment: Note to AFC Reviewers: This draft is for a title that was previously an article, but was then cut down to a redirect. If this draft is accepted, the history should be preserved. Do not tag the redirect for G6.
    If you find that this draft should be accepted, and do not have the Page Mover privilege, please request assistance in moving the redirect to preserve the history.
    Reviewers should check the history and verify whether there was a consensus to cut the article down to a redirect, or whether the action was taken boldly without discussion. If there was a consensus for the cutdown, do not accept this draft without verifying that the draft improves the article or that consensus has changed. If in doubt, please discuss.
    Robert McClenon (talk) 02:42, 21 June 2024 (UTC)

Born
Erik Stefan Cassel

(1967-12-16)December 16, 1967
Los Angeles
DiedFebruary 11, 2013(2013-02-11) (aged 45)
San Francisco
Othernameerik.cassel (on Roblox)
EducationCornell University
Quick facts Erik Cassel, Born ...
Erik Cassel
Born
Erik Stefan Cassel

(1967-12-16)December 16, 1967
Los Angeles
DiedFebruary 11, 2013(2013-02-11) (aged 45)
San Francisco
Other nameerik.cassel (on Roblox)
EducationCornell University
OccupationsVice President of Engineering at Knowledge Revolution (formerly)
Co-founder of Roblox Corporation
Years active1991–2013
Known forCo-founder of Roblox Corporation
Notable workRoblox
TitleVice President of Engineering (formerly)
Children2[a]
Close

Early life and education

Cassel was born on December 16, 1967, in Los Angeles, California, United States.[b] In junior high school, he started programming on a Radio Shack TRS-80,[1] which sparked his interest in programming.[2] Cassel went on to major in physics and earned a bachelor's degree in Cornell University in 1989.[3][4]

Career

Knowledge Revolution

David Baszucki in 2018

Shortly after graduating, Cassel joined the company Knowledge Revolution, which David Baszucki had recently founded. Baszucki had previously developed and distributed a simulation called Interactive Physics, which was designed as an educational supplement that would allow the creation of 2D physics experiments.[5][6] Cassel was hired as only the fourth employee of the company[4] and became the Vice President of Engineering shortly after, working with the company for over a decade.[1]

In December 1998, Knowledge Revolution was acquired by MSC Software, a simulation software company based in Newport Beach, California, for $20 million.[7] Both Cassel and Baszucki took senior roles in the company but decided to leave the company a few years later.[1]

Roblox

Main article: Roblox

In December 2003, Cassel, along with Baszucki, began working on an early prototype of Roblox under the working title eBlocks, which was later changed to DynaBlocks.[8] They worked from an office in Menlo Park, California alone to build alpha and beta versions of Roblox.[9][7][1] DynaBlocks was launched on December 12 2003, in a beta state that was available to select players.[10] The game's name was changed to Roblox in January 2004.[11] Roblox and its addon Roblox Studio were formally released on September 1, 2006.[9]

Roblox began to become popular, with community members creating their own games, rivaling what Roblox itself was making.[9] Seeing the potential of the company, Cassel and Baszucki hired additional employees, most notably Matt Dusek and John Shedletsky.[8][9] Shortly after hiring Dusek and Shedletsky, Roblox closed a series B investment for 1.1 million dollars.[9]

Health problems and death

Early into Roblox's development in 2010, Cassel was diagnosed with cancer.[c][9][1] On February 11, 2013, Cassel died from his cancer in San Francisco at the age of 45.[1]

Legacy

A "Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs" award granted to David Baszucki alongside a United States patent under the name of Erik Cassel.

Baszucki's blog post

On February 12, 2013, one day after Cassel's death, Baszucki made an online blog post on Roblox documenting his time with Cassel.[1][9] Many other employees also paid their tributes. Baszucki stated:

All of us at ROBLOX will miss Erik deeply. He will always be a role model to me and to all who worked with him. We celebrate the time we have been able to spend with him. Erik was incredibly talented, but I will always think of him as the "nicest guy I've ever met."

— David Baszucki

Online memorial

The Roblox community held in-game memorial events to honour Cassel. On February 15, 2013, Roblox created an online shirt titled as "Official Erik Shirt" in memory of Cassel. The item went off sale eight days later. Roblox also changed the name of a hat formerly known as "Well Worn Hat" to "Erik Cassel's Hat" and put it on sale for a short time.

Cornell undergraduate award

An award known as the "Erik Cassel '90 Prize" is given to undergraduates at Cornell University for exceptional creativity in applying computer programming to projects in physics or other related fields. Caseel's family provided the funds for the award.[3]

References

Notes

External links

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