Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs, who came to define the visionary, individualistic and temperamental Silicon Valley entrepreneur, has died after a battle with pancreatic cancer and complications related to a liver transplant. He was 56.
Jobs passed away Wednesday. He is survived by his wife Laurene, his son Reed, daughters Erin and Eve, and daughter Lisa Brennan-Jobs from his relationship with San Francisco-area painter Chrisann Brennan. Lisa was the namesake for the Apple Lisa computer, a commercial failure in the early 1980s.
Jobs started Apple with a high school friend in a Silicon Valley garage in 1976, was forced out a decade later and returned in 1997 to rescue the company. During his second stint, it grew into the most valuable technology company in the world with a market value of $351 billion. Almost all that wealth has been created since Jobs' return.
In the interim Jobs, whose roots trace back to the California counterculture, was unceremoniously dumped from Apple in a boardroom coup when he was barely 30.
He returned in triumph in 1996 to ignite the smartphone revolution before leaving the company on a final medical leave last January.
Jobs was first diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer in 2004 but declared himself cancer-free a year later after surgery to remove a tumour. He underwent a liver transplant procedure in 2007.
In between, Jobs acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd. which was spun off as Pixar Animation — and launched a computer platform development company specializing in the higher-education and business markets called NeXT Computer.
The company was subsequently bought out by Apple in what Jobs, in a 2006 commencement address at Stanford University, called the “ultimate irony.”
He returned to then-struggling Apple as part of the NeXT deal, serving as Apple's chief executive from 1997 until he announced his decision to step down on Aug. 24.
Jobs, born to an unwed graduate student in San Francisco in Feb. 1955, emerged over the past three decades as an idiosyncratic man of his digital times.
He ditched expensive business suits for his trademark black mock turtleneck, Levi's blue jeans and New Balance sneakers — leading everyday people into a full embrace of mobile computing via Apple's portable iPod music player, the iPad tablet PC and the ubiquitous iPhone — all now an integral part of the modern lifestyle.
Jobs was born in San Francisco a few kilometres from the apricot orchards that became known as Silicon Valley and lived in the valley until his death. He was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs, who later adopted a daughter who they named Patti.
His biological parents are Abdulfattah John Jandali, a Syrian Muslim graduate student who later became a political science professor, and Joanne Simpson, who went on to become a speech language pathologist. They later married, giving birth to and raising Jobs' biological sister, the novelist Mona Simpson.
Jobs attended Cupertino Junior High School and Homestead High School in Cupertino, Calif., and frequented after-school lectures at Hewlett-Packard Co. in nearby Palo Alto. He was soon hired there and worked with Wozniak as a summer employee. In 1972, Jobs graduated from high school and enrolled in Reed College in Portland, Ore. Although he dropped out after only one semester he continued attending classes at Reed, such as one in calligraphy, while sleeping on the floor in friends' rooms, returning Coke bottles for food money, and getting weekly free meals at the local Hare Krishna temple.
In autumn 1974, Jobs began attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club with Wozniak and then took a job as a technician at Atari, a manufacturer of popular video games, with the primary intent of saving money for a spiritual retreat to India.
Jobs travelled to India to visit the Neem Karoli Baba at his Kainchi Ashram with a Reed College friend (and, later, the first Apple employee), Daniel Kottke, in search of spiritual enlightenment.
Jobs returned to his previous job at Atari and was given the task of creating a circuit board for the game Breakout. According to Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, Atari had offered $100 for each chip that was eliminated in the machine. Jobs had little interest or knowledge in circuit board design and made a deal with Wozniak to split the bonus evenly between them if Wozniak could minimize the number of chips. Much to the amazement of Atari, Wozniak reduced the number of chips by 50. At the time, Jobs told Wozniak that Atari had only given them $700 (instead of the actual $5,000) and that Wozniak's share was thus $350.
Jobs married Laurene Powell in 1991 with a Zen Buddhist monk presiding over the wedding. The couple had a son and two daughters while Jobs also had a daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs from his relationship with Brennan. She briefly raised their daughter on welfare when Jobs denied paternity, claiming that he was sterile. He later acknowledged that he was the father.
Jobs, whose diet included fish but nomeat, was known for quirky habits including disregard for his appearance and messy living conditions before his marriage.
He is also noted for his aggressive and demanding personality, with Fortune writing that he was “considered one of Silicon Valley's leading egomaniacs.”
In 1993, Jobs made Fortune's list of America's Toughest Bosses when he was leading NeXT. Cofounder Dan'l Lewin was quoted in the magazine as saying of that period, “The highs were unbelievable ... but the lows were unimaginable,” to which Jobs's office replied that his personality had changed since then.
US President Barack Obama called Jobs a visionary great innovator, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said he was a competitor and a friend.
Republican Presidential Hopeful Mitt Romney said that Jobs was an inspiration. "Steve Jobs is an inspiration to American entrepreneurs. He will be missed."
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said, "Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend. Thanks for showing that what you build can change the world. I will miss you."
Steve Jobs even said once ""Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life,". May HE rest in Peace. Let his name be incorporated in every apple products.
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