Akamai Co-Founder Killed In Trade Center Crash

The American Airlines Flight 11, bound for Los Angeles, was said to be carrying 81 passengers and 11 crew members when it crashed into one of the World Trade Center buildings.

by David Aponovich of internetnews.com [September 12, 2001]

Daniel C. Lewin, the co-founder and chief technology officer of Akamai Technologies Inc., was on the American Airlines flight that departed Boston and crashed into the World Trade Center today, according to Akamai.

Lewin, 31, is survived by his wife and two sons.

The American Airlines Flight 11, bound for Los Angeles, was said to be carrying 81 passengers and 11 crew members when it crashed into one of the World Trade Center buildings.

George H. Conrades, chairman and CEO of the Cambridge, Mass., Web content-delivery company, said, "Danny was a wonderful human being. He will be deeply missed by his many friends at Akamai. Our thoughts and prayers are with Danny's family, friends and colleagues during this time of national tragedy and personal loss."

Lewin founded Akamai in September 1998 with Tom Leighton and a group of MIT scientists and business professionals. As CTO, Lewin oversaw Akamai's research and development strategy.

According to Akamai's Web site, Lewin is a Ph.D. candidate in the Algorithms Group at MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science, and has published and presented "several breakthrough papers" at top computer conferences. He also received awarded several technical honors, including the 1998 Morris Joseph Lewin Award for Best Masterworks Thesis Presentation at MIT. The company said Lewin's master's thesis includes some of the "fundamental algorithms that make up the core of Akamai's Freeflow system."

Previously, Lewin worked at IBM's research lab in Haifa, Israel, where he was a research fellow and project leader. In 1995, Technion, Isreal's leading technology university, named Lewin the year's Outstanding Students in Computer Engineering. According to Akamai, at IBM Lewin was responsible for development and support of its Genesys system, a processor verification tool that is used within IBM and in other companies.

Lewin was born in Denver, Colo., and raised in Jerusalem. According to Akamai's Web site, he was an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, having served in the country's military for more than four years.

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