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HowStuffWorks founder Marshall Brain sent final email before sudden death

Popular tech educator died in his office within hours of claiming retaliation for filing NCSU ethics reports.

Brian Gordon, a reporter for The News and Observer in Raleigh, obtained a copy of Brain's death certificate and shared it with Ars Technica, confirming the suicide. At 4:29 am—just two and a half hours before he was discovered dead in his office, Brain sent a final email, obtained by Ars Technica, to over 30 recipients inside and outside the university. In the detailed letter, Brain disputed an announcement made by his boss, Stephen Markham, executive director of NC State's Innovation and Entrepreneurship program.

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