Steven Paul"Steve" Jobs (/ˈdʒɒbz/; February 24,1955– October 5, 2011) was an American inventorand entrepreneur. He was co-founder, chairman, andchief executive officer of Apple Inc. Jobs also was co-founder and previouslyserved as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of theboardof directors of the Walt Disney Company in 2006,following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney.

In the late 1970s,Jobs—along with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula andothers—designed, developed, and marketed one of the firstcommercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple IIseries. In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see thecommercial potential of Xerox PARC's mouse-drivengraphical user interface, which ledto the creation of the Apple Lisa and, one year later, the Macintosh. After losing apower struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs left Appleand founded NeXT, a computerplatform development company specializing in thehigher-education and business markets.

In 1986, he acquiredthe computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd, which was spun off as Pixar AnimationStudios.He was credited in Toy Story (1995) as anexecutive producer. He remained CEO and majority shareholder at50.1percent until its acquisition by TheWalt Disney Company in 2006,making Jobs Disney's largestindividual shareholder at sevenpercent and amember of Disney's Board of Directors.Apple's 1996 buyout of NeXTbrought Jobs back to the company he co-founded, and he served asits interim CEO from 1997, then becoming permanent CEO from 2000,onwards.After resigning as CEO in August 2011, Jobs was electedchairman of Apple's board of directors and held that title untilhis death.

On October 5, 2011,Jobs died at his home in California at the age of 56 from respiratoryarrest caused by a pancreatic tumor;the latter had beendiagnosed seven years earlier. On his death he was widely describedas a visionary, pioneer and genius—perhaps one of the foremost—inthe field of business, innovation, and product design, and a manwho had profoundly changed the face of the modern world,revolutionized at least six different industries, and who was an"exemplar for all chief executives".

Jobs was born in San Francisco to JoanneCarole Schieble (later Simpson), an American ofSwissand Germanancestry,and Abdulfattah John Jandali,a Syrian, bothgraduate students.Jobs was placed for adoption after Schieble'sfather opposed their marriage.Schieble became aspeech languagepathologistwhileJandali taught political science at several colleges. He iscurrently vice president of Boomtown Casino andHotel in Reno, Nevada.Schiebleand Jandali married in December 1955 four months after her fatherdied and ten months after giving up their baby boy. Their daughter,Jobs's biological sister, novelist Mona Simpson was born in1957. Schieble and Jandali divorced in 1962. The siblings first metin 1984, and kept their relationship a secret until1986.Theyenjoyed a close adult relationship, with Jobs regularly visitingSimpson in Manhattan. From Simpson, Jobs learned more about theirbirth parents and he invited his biological mother Joanne to someevents.Jandali'sattempts, late in his life, to contact Jobs wereunsuccessful;Interviewed in August 2011 when Jobsresigned as CEO of Apple, Jandali said, "I just wish I hadn't beenthe selfish man I must have been, to allow both my children to turntheir backs on me and pray it is not too late to tell Steve how Ifeel."
Early years

Jobs was adopted bythe family of Paul Jobs and Clara Jobs (née Hagopian) who moved toMountain View, California when hewas five years old.Paul and Clara later adopted a daughter, Patti.Paul Jobs, a machinist for a company that made lasers, taught hisson rudimentary electronics and how to work with his hands.Hisadoptive mother was an accountant.Asked in a 1995interview what he wanted to pass on to his children, Jobs replied,"Just to try to be as good a father to them as my father was to me.I think about that every day of my life." When asked about his"adoptive parents," Jobs replied emphatically that Paul and ClaraJobs "were my parents."

Jobs attendedCupertino Junior High and Homestead High School inCupertino,California.He frequented after-schoollectures at the Hewlett-Packard Company in PaloAlto, California, and was later hired there, working withSteveWozniak as a summer employee.Following high school graduationin 1972, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Although he droppedout after only one semester,he continued auditing classesat Reed, while sleeping on the floor in friends' rooms, returningCoke bottles for food money, and getting weekly free meals at thelocal Hare Krishnatemple.Jobs later said, "If I had never droppedin on that single calligraphy course in college, the Mac would havenever had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts."

In 1974, Jobs took ajob as a technician at Atari, Inc.,a manufacturer of video games, with the primary intentof saving money for a spiritual retreat to India.

Jobs thentraveled to India to visit Neem KaroliBabaat his Kainchi Ashram with aReed College friend (and, later, an early Appleemployee), Daniel Kottke, in search of spiritual enlightenment. Hecame back a Buddhist with his head shaved and wearing traditionalIndian clothing.During this time, Jobs experimentedwith psychedelics, calling his LSD experiences "one of the two or three mostimportant things [he had] done in [his]life".He later said that people around him who didnot share his countercultural roots could not fully relate to histhinking.

Jobs returned toAtari and was given the task of creating a circuit board forthe game Breakout. According to Atarico-founder Nolan Bushnell, Atari offered $100 for eachchip that was eliminated in the machine. Jobs had little interestin or knowledge of circuit board design and made a deal withWozniak to split the bonus evenly between them if Wozniak couldminimize the number of chips. Much to the amazement of Atari,Wozniak reduced the number of chips by 50, a design so tight thatit was impossible to reproduce on an assembly line. According toWozniak, Jobs told Wozniak that Atari gave them only $700 (insteadof the offered $5,000) and that Wozniak's share was thus $350.

Jobs began attendingmeetings of the Homebrew Computer Club with Wozniak in1975.

Jobs greatly admiredEdwin H.Land, the inventor of instant photography and founder ofPolaroid Corporation, and explicitlymodeled his career after him.

Career

AppleComputer

In 1976, Jobs,SteveWozniak and Ronald Wayne foundedApple,with later funding from a then-semi-retiredIntel product-marketing manager and engineer A.C. "Mike" MarkkulaJr..Prior to co-founding Apple, Wozniak wasan electronics hacker. Jobs and Wozniak met in 1971, when theirmutual friend, Bill Fernandez, introduced 21-year-old Wozniak to16-year-old Jobs. Friends for several years, Jobs managed tointerest Wozniak in assembling a computer and sellingit.As Apple continued to expand, the companybegan looking for an experienced executive to help manage itsexpansion.

In 1978, Applerecruited Mike Scott from National Semiconductor to serve as CEOfor what turned out to be several turbulent years. In 1983, Jobslured JohnSculley away from Pepsi-Cola to serve as Apple's CEO, asking, "Doyou want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do youwant to come with me and change the world?"Applepresident MikeMarkkula also wanted to retire and believed that Jobs lackedthe discipline and temperament needed to run Apple on a daily basisand that Sculley's conventional business background and recentsuccesses would give a more favorable image.

In the early 1980s,Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential ofXeroxPARC's mouse-driven graphical user interface, which ledto the creation of the Apple Lisa and, one year later, the Macintosh.

The following year,Apple aired a SuperBowl television commercial titled "1984". At Apple's annualshareholders meeting on January 24, 1984, an emotional Jobsintroduced the Macintosh to a wildly enthusiastic audience;AndyHertzfeld described the scene as"pandemonium".The Macintosh became the firstcommercially successful small computer with a graphical user interface.

While Jobs was apersuasive and charismatic director for Apple, some of hisemployees from that time described him as an erratic andtemperamental manager. An industry-wide sales slump towards the endof 1984, caused a deterioration in Jobs's working relationship withSculley as well as layoffs and disappointing sales performance. Aninternal power struggle developed between Jobs and Sculley.Jobskept meetings running past midnight, sent out lengthy faxes, thencalled new meetings at 7:00 am.

The Apple board ofdirectors instructed Sculley to "contain" Jobs and limit hisability to launch expensive forays into untestedproducts.^{[citationneeded]} Sculley learned that Jobs - believingSculley to be "bad for Apple" and the wrong person to lead thecompany - had been attempting to organize a boardroomcoup,and on May 24, 1985hecalled a board meeting to resolve the matter. Apple's board ofdirectors sided with Sculley and removed Jobs from his managerialduties as head of the Macintosh division.Jobsresigned from Apple five months laterand foundedNeXT Inc. the same year.

Jobs later claimedthat being fired from Apple was the best thing that could havehappened to him; "The heaviness of being successful was replaced bythe lightness of being a beginner again, less sure abouteverything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periodsof my life."

NeXTComputer

After leaving Apple,Jobs founded NeXT Computer in1985, with $7million. A year later, Jobs wasrunning out of money, and with no product on the horizon, heappealed for venture capital. Eventually, he attracted theattention of billionaire Ross Perot who invested heavily in thecompany.NeXT workstations were first released in1990, priced at $9,999. Like the Apple Lisa, the NeXT workstation wastechnologically advanced, but was largely dismissed ascost-prohibitive by the educational sector for which it wasdesigned.The NeXT workstation was known for itstechnical strengths, chief among them its object-orientedsoftware development system. Jobs marketed NeXT products to thefinancial, scientific, and academic community, highlighting itsinnovative, experimental new technologies, such as the Mach kernel, thedigital signal processor chip, andthe built-in Ethernetport.

The revised,second-generation NeXTcube was released in 1990, also. Jobs touted itas the first "interpersonal" computer that would replace thepersonal computer. With its innovative NeXTMail multimedia email system, NeXTcubecould share voice, image, graphics, and video in email for thefirst time. "Interpersonal computing is going to revolutionisehuman communications and groupwork", Jobs toldreporters.Jobs ran NeXT with an obsession foraesthetic perfection, as evidenced by the development of andattention to NeXTcube's magnesium case.This put considerable strainon NeXT's hardware division, and in 1993, after having sold only50,000 machines, NeXT transitioned fully to software developmentwith the release of NeXTSTEP/Intel.The company reported its firstprofit of $1.03million in 1994.In 1996, NeXTSoftware, Inc. released WebObjects, a framework for web applicationdevelopment. After NeXT was acquired by Apple Inc. in 1997,WebObjects was used to build and run the AppleStore,MobileMe services, and the iTunes Store.

Pixar andDisney

In 1986, Jobs boughtThe Graphics Group (later renamed Pixar) from Lucasfilm's computer graphics division for theprice of $10million, $5millionof which was given to the company as capital.

The new company,which was originally based at Lucasfilm's Kerner Studios in SanRafael, California, but has since relocated to Emeryville, California, was initiallyintended to be a high-end graphics hardware developer. After yearsof unprofitability selling the Pixar Image Computer, itcontracted with Disney to produce a number of computer-animatedfeature films that Disney would co-finance and distribute.

The first filmproduced by the partnership, Toy Story, with Jobs credited as executiveproducer,brought fame and critical acclaim to thestudio when it was released in 1995. Over the next 15 years, underPixar's creative chief John Lasseter, the company produced box-officehits A Bug'sLife (1998); Toy Story 2 (1999); Monsters,Inc. (2001); Finding Nemo (2003); TheIncredibles (2004); Cars (2006); Ratatouille (2007); WALL-E (2008); Up (2009);and Toy Story3 (2010). Finding Nemo, The Incredibles,Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up and Toy Story 3each received the Academy Award for BestAnimated Feature, an award introduced in 2001.

In the years 2003,and 2004, as Pixar's contract with Disney was running out, Jobs andDisney chief executive Michael Eisner tried but failed to negotiate anew partnership,and in early 2004, Jobs announcedthat Pixar would seek a new partner to distribute its films afterits contract with Disney expired.

In October 2005,Bob Iger replacedEisner at Disney, and Iger quickly worked to patch up relationswith Jobs and Pixar. On January 24, 2006, Jobs and Iger announcedthat Disney had agreed to purchase Pixar in an all-stocktransaction worth $7.4billion. When the dealclosed, Jobs became The Walt Disney Company's largestsingle shareholder with approximatelysevenpercent of the company'sstock.Jobs's holdings in Disney far exceed thoseof Eisner, who holds 1.7percent, and of Disneyfamily member Roy E. Disney, who until his 2009 death heldabout onepercent of the company's stock and whosecriticisms of Eisner—especially that he soured Disney'srelationship with Pixar—accelerated Eisner's ousting. Jobs joinedthe company's board of directors upon completion of the merger.Jobs also helped oversee Disney and Pixar's combined animationbusinesses with a seat on a special six person steeringcommittee.

Return toApple

In 1996, Appleannounced that it would buy NeXT for $429million. The deal wasfinalized in late 1996,bringing Jobs back to thecompany he co-founded. Jobs became de facto chief afterthen-CEO GilAmelio was ousted in July 1997. He was formally named interimchief executive in September.In March 1998, toconcentrate Apple's efforts on returning to profitability, Jobsterminated a number of projects, such as Newton,Cyberdog, andOpenDoc. In the comingmonths, many employees developed a fear of encountering Jobs whileriding in the elevator, "afraid that they might not have a job whenthe doors opened. The reality was that Jobs's summary executionswere rare, but a handful of victims was enough to terrorize a wholecompany."Jobs also changed the licensing programfor Macintosh clones, making it too costly forthe manufacturers to continue making machines.

With the purchase ofNeXT, much of the company's technology found its way into Appleproducts, most notably NeXTSTEP, which evolved into Mac OS X. Under Jobs'sguidance the company increased sales significantly with theintroduction of the iMac andother new products; since then, appealing designs and powerfulbranding have worked well for Apple. At the 2000 Macworld Expo,Jobs officially dropped the "interim" modifier from his title atApple and became permanent CEO.^[58] Jobsquipped at the time that he would be using the title'iCEO.'^[59]

The companysubsequently branched out, introducing and improving upon otherdigital appliances. With the introduction of the iPod portable music player, iTunesdigital music software, and the iTunes Store, the company made forays intoconsumer electronics and music distribution. On June 29, 2007,Apple entered the cellular phone business with the introduction ofthe iPhone, a multi-touch displaycell phone, which also included the features of an iPod and, withits own mobile browser, revolutionized the mobile browsing scene.While stimulating innovation, Jobs also reminded his employees that"real artists ship",by which he meant thatdelivering working products on time is as important as innovationand attractive design.

Jobs was bothadmired and criticized for his consummate skill at persuasion andsalesmanship, which has been dubbed the "reality distortion field" and wasparticularly evident during his keynote speeches (colloquiallyknown as "Stevenotes") at Macworld Expos andat Apple Worldwide DevelopersConferences.

In 2005, Jobsresponded to criticism of Apple's poor recycling programs fore-waste in the U.S. bylashing out at environmental and other advocates at Apple's AnnualMeeting in Cupertino in April. A few weeks later, Apple announcedit would take back iPods for free at its retail stores. TheComputer TakeBack Campaign responded byflying a banner from a plane over the Stanford Universitygraduation at which Jobs was the commencementspeaker.The banner read "Steve—Don't be amini-player recycle all e-waste". In 2006, he further expandedApple's recycling programs to any U.S. customer who buys a new Mac.This program includes shipping and "environmentally friendlydisposal" of their old systems.

Resignation

In August 2011, Jobsresigned as CEO of Apple, but remained at the company as chairmanof the company's board.Hours after the announcement, Apple Inc.(AAPL) shares dropped fivepercent in after-hourtrading.The relatively small drop, when considering the importanceof Jobs to Apple, was associated with the fact that Jobs's healthhad been in the news for several years, and he was on medical leavesince January 2011.It was believed, according to Forbes, that the impact wouldbe felt in a negative way beyond Apple, including at TheWalt Disney Company where Jobs served as director.In after-hourtrading on the day of the announcement, Walt Disney Co. (DIS)shares dropped 1.5percent.

Businesslife

Wealth

Even though Jobsearned only $1 a year as CEO of Apple,he held5.426million Apple shares, as well as 138 millionshares in Disney (which he received in exchange for Disney'sacquisition of Pixar).Jobs quipped that the $1 per annum he waspaid by Apple was based on attending one meeting for 50 cents whilethe other 50 cents was based on his performance.Forbes estimated his netwealth at $8.3billion in 2010, making him the42nd wealthiest American.

Stock optionsbackdating issue

In 2001, Jobs wasgranted stock options in the amount of 7.5millionshares of Apple with an exercise price of $18.30. It was allegedthat the options had been backdated, and that the exercise price should havebeen $21.10. It was further alleged that Jobs had thereby incurredtaxable income of $20,000,000 that he did not report, and thatApple overstated its earnings by that same amount. As a result,Jobs potentially faced a number of criminal charges and civilpenalties. The case is the subject of active criminal and civilgovernment investigations,though an independentinternal Apple investigation completed on December 29, 2006, foundthat Jobs was unaware of these issues and that the options grantedto him were returned without being exercised in2003.On July 1, 2008, a$7billion class action suit was filed againstseveral members of the Apple Board of Directors for revenue lostdue to the alleged securities fraud

Managementstyle

Jobs was a demandingperfectionistwho always aspired to position hisbusinesses and their products at the forefront of the informationtechnology industry by foreseeing and setting trends, at least ininnovation and style. He summed up that self-concept at the end ofhis keynote speech at the Macworld Conferenceand Expo in January 2007, by quoting ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky:

There's an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love. 'I skate towhere the puck is going to be, not where it has been.' And we'vealways tried to do that at Apple. Since the very very beginning.And we always will.

Much was made ofJobs's aggressive and demanding personality. Fortune wrote that he was "consideredone of Silicon Valley's leading egomaniacs".Commentaries on histemperamental style can be found in Mike Moritz's The LittleKingdom,The Second Coming of SteveJobs, by Alan Deutschman; and iCon: SteveJobs, by Jeffrey S. Young & William L.Simon. In 1993, Jobs made Fortune's list of America's Toughest Bossesin regard to his leadership of NeXT. Cofounder Dan'l Lewin wasquoted in Fortune as saying of that period, "The highs wereunbelievable ... But the lows were unimaginable", to which Jobs'soffice replied that his personality had changed since then.

In 2005, Jobs bannedall books published by John Wiley &Sons from AppleStores in response to their publishing an unauthorizedbiography, iCon: Steve Jobs.Inits 2010 annual earnings report, Wiley said it had "closed a deal... to make its titles available for theiPad."Jef Raskin, a former colleague, once said thatJobs "would have made an excellent king of France," alluding toJobs's compelling and larger-than-lifepersona.Floyd Norman said that at Pixar, Jobs was a"mature, mellow individual" and never interfered with the creativeprocess of the filmmakers.

Jobshad a public war of words with Dell Computer CEO Michael Dell, startingwhen Jobs first criticized Dell for making "un-innovative beigeboxes".On October 6, 1997,in a GartnerSymposium, when Michael Dell was asked what he woulddo if he owned then-troubled Apple Computer, he said "I'd shut itdown and give the money back to theshareholders."In 2006, Jobssent an email to all employees when Apple's marketcapitalization rose above Dell's. The emailread:

Team, it turned out that Michael Dell wasn't perfect atpredicting the future. Based on today's stock market close, Appleis worth more than Dell. Stocks go up and down, and things may bedifferent tomorrow, but I thought it was worth a moment ofreflection today. Steve.

Inventions

As of October 9,2011, Jobs is listed as either primary inventor or co-inventor in342 US patents or patent applications related to a range oftechnologies from actual computer and portable devices to userinterfaces (including touch-based), speakers, keyboards, poweradapters, staircases, clasps, sleeves, lanyards and packages.

Philanthropy

Arik Hesseldahl ofBusinessWeek magazine stated that "Jobsisn't widely known for his association with philanthropic causes",compared to BillGates' efforts.Jobs said he does charitableacts privately. After resuming control of Apple in 1997, Jobseliminated all corporate philanthropyprograms.Under Jobs, Apple signed to participatein Product Redprogram, producing red versions of devices to give profits fromsales to charity. Apple became the single largest contributor sincethen. The chief of the Product Red project, singer Bono, cited Jobs saying there was“nothing better than the chance to save lives,” when he initiallyapproached Apple with the invitation to participate in theprogram.

Personallife

Jobs marriedLaurenePowell on March 18, 1991. Presiding over the wedding was theZen Buddhist monk Kobun ChinoOtogawa.The couple had a son and twodaughters.Jobs also had a daughter, LisaBrennan-Jobs (born 1978), from his relationship with Bay Areapainter Chrisann Brennan.For two years, she raised their daughteron welfare when Jobs denied paternity by claiming he was sterile;he later acknowledged Lisa as his daughter.

In the unauthorizedbiography, The Second Coming of SteveJobs, author Alan Deutschman reports that Jobs once datedJoan Baez.Deutschman quotes Elizabeth Holmes, a friend of Jobs from his timeat Reed College, as saying she "believed that Steve became thelover of Joan Baez in large measure because Baez had been the loverof Bob Dylan"(Dylan was the Apple icon's favorite musician). The biography alsonotes that Jobs went out with actress Diane Keaton briefly.^{[citationneeded]} In another unauthorized biography,iCon:Steve Jobs by Jeffrey S. Young & William L.Simon, the authors suggest that Jobs might have married Baez, buther age at the time meant it was unlikely the couple could havechildren.

Jobs was also a fanof The Beatles.He referred to them on multiple occasions at Keynotes and also wasinterviewed on a showing of a Paul McCartney concert. When asked about hisbusinessmodel on 60Minutes, he replied:

My model for business is The Beatles: They were four guys thatkept each other's negative tendencies in check; they balanced eachother. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts. Greatthings in business are never done by one person, they are done by ateam of people.^[95]

In 1982, Jobs boughtan apartment in The San Remo, an apartment building in New YorkCity with a politically progressive reputation, where Demi Moore, StevenSpielberg, Steve Martin, and Princess Yasmin AgaKhan, daughter of Rita Hayworth, also had apartments. With thehelp of I.M. Pei,Jobs spent years renovating his apartment in the top two floors ofthe building's north tower, only to sell it almost two decadeslater to U2 singer Bono. Jobs never movedin.

In 1984, Jobspurchased a 17,000-square-foot(1,600m²), 14-bedroom SpanishColonial mansion, designed by George Washington Smith,in Woodside, California (also known asJacklingHouse). Although it reportedly remained in an almostunfurnished state, Jobs lived in the mansion for almost ten years.According to reports, he kept a 1966 BMW R60/2 motorcycle in the living room, andlet BillClinton use it in 1998. From the early 1990s, Jobs lived in ahouse in the Old Palo Alto neighborhood of Palo Alto. PresidentClinton dined with Jobs and 14 Silicon Valley CEOs there on August7, 1996, at a meal catered by Greens Restaurant.^[98][99]Clinton returned the favor and Jobs, who was a Democratic donor, slept inthe Lincoln bedroom of the White House.

Jobs allowedJackling House to fall into a state of disrepair, planning todemolish the house and build a smaller home on the property; but hemet with complaints from local preservationists over his plans. InJune 2004, the Woodside Town Council gave Jobs approval to demolishthe mansion, on the condition that he advertise the property for ayear to see if someone would move it to another location andrestore it. A number of people expressed interest, includingseveral with experience in restoring old property, but noagreements to that effect were reached. Later that same year, alocal preservationist group began seeking legal action to preventdemolition. In January 2007, Jobs was denied the right to demolishthe property, by a court decision.The courtdecision was overturned on appeal in March 2010, and the mansionwas demolished beginning February 2011.

Jobs usually wore ablack long-sleeved mock turtleneck made by St.Croix, Levi's 501blue jeans, and NewBalance 991 sneakers.He was a pescetarian.

His car was a silver2008 Mercedes SL 55 AMG, which does not display its licenseplates.

Health

In mid-2004, Jobsannounced to his employees that he had been diagnosed with acancerous tumor in hispancreas.The prognosis forpancreatic cancer is usually verypoor;Jobs, however, stated that he had a rare, far less aggressivetype known as islet cell neuroendocrinetumor.Jobs resisted his doctors'recommendations for evidence-based medical interventionfor nine months,instead consuming a special alternative medicine diet to thwart thedisease, before eventually undergoing a pancreaticoduodenectomy (or "Whippleprocedure") in July 2004, that appeared to successfully remove thetumor.Jobs apparently did not require nor receivechemotherapyor radiation therapy.DuringJobs's absence, Timothy D. Cook, head of worldwide sales andoperations at Apple, ran the company.

In early August2006, Jobs delivered the keynote for Apple's annual Worldwide DevelopersConference. His "thin, almost gaunt" appearance and unusually"listless" delivery,together with his choice todelegate significant portions of his keynote to other presenters,inspired a flurry of media and Internet speculation about hishealth.In contrast, according to an Ars Technicajournal report, Worldwide DevelopersConference (WWDC) attendees who saw Jobs in person said he"looked fine".Following the keynote, an Apple spokesperson saidthat "Steve's health is robust."

2008development

Two years later,similar concerns followed Jobs's 2008 WWDC keynoteaddress.Apple officials stated Jobs was victim toa "common bug" and was taking antibiotics,while others surmised hiscachectic appearancewas due to the Whipple procedure.During a July conferencecall discussing Apple earnings, participants responded to repeatedquestions about Jobs's health by insisting that it was a "privatematter". Others, however, voiced the opinion that shareholders hada right to know more, given Jobs's hands-on approach to running hiscompany.The New York Times published anarticle based on an off-the-record phone conversation with Jobs,noting that "While his health problems amounted to a good deal morethan 'a common bug,' they weren't life-threatening and he doesn'thave a recurrence of cancer."

On August 28, 2008,Bloombergmistakenly published a 2500-word obituary of Jobs in its corporate news service,containing blank spaces for his age and cause of death. (Newscarriers customarily stockpile up-to-date obituaries to facilitatenews delivery in the event of a well-known figure's untimelydeath.) Although the error was promptly rectified, many newscarriers and blogs reported on it,intensifyingrumors concerning Jobs's health.Jobs responded atApple's September 2008 Let's Rock keynote by quotingMark Twain:"Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."Ata subsequent media event, Jobs concluded his presentation with aslide reading "110/70", referring to his blood pressure,stating he would not address further questions about hishealth.

On December 16,2008, Apple announced that marketing vice-president PhilSchiller would deliver the company's final keynote address atthe Macworld Conference and Expo2009, again reviving questions about Jobs'shealth.In a statement given on January 5, 2009,on Apple.com,Jobssaid that he had been suffering from a "hormone imbalance" for several months.

2009 LiverTransplant

On January 14, 2009,in an internal Apple memo, Jobs wrote that in the previous week hehad "learned that my health-related issues are more complex than Ioriginally thought" and announced a six-month leave of absenceuntil the end of June 2009, to allow him to better focus on hishealth. Tim Cook, whopreviously acted as CEO in Jobs's 2004 absence, became acting CEOof Apple,with Jobs still involved with "majorstrategic decisions."

In April 2009, Jobsunderwent a liver transplant at Methodist UniversityHospital Transplant Institute in Memphis,Tennessee.Jobs's prognosis was"excellent".

2011 medicalleave and resignation

On January 17, 2011,a year and a half after Jobs returned from his liver transplant,Apple announced that he had been granted a medical leave ofabsence. Jobs announced his leave in a letter to employees, statinghis decision was made "so he could focus on his health". As duringhis 2009 medical leave, Apple announced that Tim Cook would run day-to-dayoperations and that Jobs would continue to be involved in majorstrategic decisions at the company.Despite theleave, he made appearances at the iPad 2 launch event (March 2), the WWDC keynoteintroducing iCloud (June6), and before the Cupertino city council (June 7).

Unfortunately, that dayhas come.

Death

Jobs died at hisCalifornia home around 3pm on October 5, 2011,dueto complications from a rare form of pancreaticcancer.The official cause of death on the death certificate wasrespiratory arrest caused by a metastatic pancreasneuroendocrine tumor as the underlying cause, and hisoccupation given as "entrepreneur".His death was announced by Applein a statement which read:

We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed awaytoday.
Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countlessinnovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world isimmeasurably better because of Steve.
His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Ourhearts go out to them and to all who were touched by hisextraordinary gifts."

Jobs is survived byLaurene, his wife of 20 years, their three children and by LisaBrennan-Jobs, his daughter from a previous relationship.Hisfamily released a statement saying that he "died peacefully".

Starting October 5,2011, Apple's corporate website greeted visitors with a simple pageshowing Jobs's name and lifespan next to his grayscale portrait.Clicking on Jobs's image led to an obituary that read "Apple haslost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost anamazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough toknow and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiringmentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could havebuilt, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple." Anemail address was also posted for the public to share theirmemories, condolences, and thoughts.

Shortly after hisdeath was announced, NBCinterrupted scheduled programming to broadcast this news.A largenumber of newspapers carried news of his death on their front pagesthe next day. Statements reacting to Jobs's death were made byseveral notable people, including U.S. President BarackObama,Microsoft founder Bill Gates,and TheWalt Disney Company's Bob Iger. Wired News collected reactions and posted them intribute on their homepage.Other statements ofcondolences were issued by many of Jobs' friends and colleagues,such as SteveWozniak and George Lucas.

A small privatefuneral was held on October 7, 2011, of which details were notrevealed in respect to Jobs' family.Appleannounced on the same day that they had no plans for a publicservice, but were rather encouraging 'well-wishers' to send theirremembrance messages to an email address created to receive suchmessages.

Honors andpublic recognition

After Apple'sfounding, Jobs became a symbol of his company and industry. WhenTime named the computer as the 1982"Machine of the Year", the magazinepublished a long profile of Steve as "the most famous maestro ofthe micro".

Jobs was awarded theNational Medal of Technology byPresident Ronald Reagan in 1984, with Steve Wozniak(among the first people to ever receive thehonor),and a Jefferson Award for PublicService in the category "Greatest Public Service by anIndividual 35 Years or Under" (also known as the Samuel S. BeardAward) in 1987.On November 27, 2007, Jobs was named the mostpowerful person in business by Fortune Magazine.On December 5,2007, California Governor ArnoldSchwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Jobs into theCalifornia Hall of Fame, located atTheCalifornia Museum for History, Women and the Arts.

In August 2009, Jobswas selected as the most admired entrepreneur among teenagers in a surveyby JuniorAchievement,having previously been namedEntrepreneur of the Decade 20 years earlier in 1989, by Inc.magazine.On November 5, 2009, Jobs wasnamed the CEO of the decade byFortune Magazine.

In September 2011,Jobs was ranked No.17 on Forbes: The World's Most PowerfulPeople.In December 2010, the FinancialTimes named Jobs its person of the year for 2010, endingits essay by stating, "In his autobiography, John Sculley, theformer PepsiCo executive who once ran Apple, said this of theambitions of the man he had pushed out: 'Apple was supposed tobecome a wonderful consumer products company. This was a lunaticplan. High-tech could not be designed and sold as a consumerproduct.' How wrong can you be".

At the time of hisresignation, and again after his death, he was widely described asa visionary, pioneer and genius—perhaps one of the foremost—in thefield ofbusiness,innovation,and productdesign,and a man who had profoundly changed theface of the modern world,revolutionized at leastsix different industries,and who was an "exemplarfor all chief executives".His death was widelymournedand considered a loss to the world bycommentators across the globe.

After hisresignation as Apple's CEO, Jobs was characterized as the Thomas Edison andHenry Ford of histime.

Free softwarepioneer Richard Stallman dissented from theprevailing hagiographic views of Jobs in his blog to draw attentionto the legendary tight control that Apple exercised as corporatepolicy over their computers and handheld devices, restrictions overmedia and uses, and persistent violations of privacy: "Steve Jobs,the pioneer of the computer as a jail made cool, designed to severfools from their freedom, has died".

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