Erik Cassel
American software developer (1967–2013)
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Erik Stefan Cassel (December 16, 1967 – February 11, 2013) was an American entrepreneur, engineer, and software developer. He was 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.
December 16, 1967
Erik Cassel | |
|---|---|
Cassel at ROBLOX Rally 2011 | |
| Born | Erik Stefan Cassel December 16, 1967 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Died | February 11, 2013 (aged 45) San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Other name | erik.cassel (on Roblox) |
| Education | Cornell University |
| Occupations | Vice President of Engineering at Knowledge Revolution (formerly) Co-founder of Roblox Corporation |
| Years active | 1991–2013 |
| Known for | Co-founder of Roblox Corporation |
| Notable work | Roblox |
| Title | Vice President of Engineering (formerly) |
| Spouse |
Jennifer Lawrence (m. 1995) |
| Children | 2 |
Early life and education
Cassel was born on December 16, 1967, in Los Angeles, California, United States. He initially wanted to be an actor in his childhood, and played for his high school soccer team.[1] In junior high school, he started programming on a Radio Shack TRS-80,[2] which sparked his interest in programming.[3] Cassel went on to major in physics and earned a bachelor's degree in Cornell University in 1989.[4][5][1][6]
Career
Knowledge Revolution
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Shortly after graduating, Cassel joined the company Knowledge Revolution, which David Baszucki had recently founded.[7] 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.[8][9][10] Cassel was hired as only the fourth employee of the company[5] and became the Vice President of Engineering shortly after, working with the company for over a decade.[2][11][12]
In December 1998, Knowledge Revolution was acquired by MSC Software, a simulation software company based in Newport Beach, California, for $20 million.[13] Both Cassel and Baszucki took senior roles in the company but decided to leave the company a few years later.[2][12]
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".[14] They worked from an office in Menlo Park, California alone to build alpha and beta versions of Roblox.[15][13][2] DynaBlocks was launched on December 12, 2003, in a beta state that was available to select players.[16] The game's name was changed to "Roblox" in January 2004.[17] Roblox and its add-on Roblox Studio were formally released on September 1, 2006.[15][14] Cassel was then promoted to Head of Engineering at Roblox.[18]
Roblox began to become popular, with community members creating their own games, rivaling what Roblox itself was making.[15] Seeing the potential of the company, Cassel and Baszucki hired additional employees, most notably Matt Dusek and John Shedletsky.[14][15] Shortly after hiring Dusek and Shedletsky, Roblox closed a series B investment for 1.1 million dollars.[15]
Health problems and death
Early into Roblox's development in 2010, Cassel was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer.[citation needed] On February 11, 2013, Cassel died from his cancer in San Francisco at the age of 45.[2][19][20][11][21][excessive citations]
Legacy
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.[citation needed] Many other employees also paid their tributes. Baszucki stated[22]:
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.[23] On February 15, 2013, Roblox created an online shirt titled as "Official Erik Shirt" in memory of Cassel.[1] 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.[1]
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. Cassel's family provided the funds for the award.[4]