Steve Jobs Dies at the Age 56

 Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve." - from a statement released by Apple

The iconic founder and former CEO of Apple, Steven Paul Jobs, died on September 5, 2011, after a long battle against cancer. He was the driving force behind probably the most revolutionary technology invented in recent history and the incredibly popular electronic gadgets. He was a unique thinker who touched many people in many ways. His work ethics, creativity, and vision are unsurpassed.

Mr. Jobs was born in San Francisco in 1955 and grew up with his adoptive parents near Cupertino, CA. 

After attending Reed College in Portland for one semester and auditing classes for free for several more, Jobs took a job at Atari where he was designing circuit boards. In 1976, he co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak.

The two young men started out in a garage with little money and a grand vision of changing the world. Over the course of the past 35 years, the Apple company and Mr. Jobs have gone on to change the personal computing industry, the music and film industries, and the mobile communications industry.

In August 2004, Mr. Jobs revealed that he had undergone surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his pancreas. He took a one month leave of absence to recover from surgery and returned to work in September 2004. For the next several years he denied any rumors about his health, but was, in reality, struggling with disease. He had a liver transplant in April 2009, but was back at work as early as June that year. He held a CEO position of Apple until January 2011 when he took a medical leave of absence. In August 2011 he stepped down from this position.

Mr. Jobs passed away only a day after the latest Apple product - the iPhone 4S - was launched. He was a creative genius and a great visionary and will be remembered as a man who changed the daily habits of millions of people around the world. He was a man who treated computers not as tools, but rather as the extensions of our minds.

Rest in peace, Mr. Jobs! You will be missed!

Written on Mac by Dominique Allmon

"People who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do." - from a 2007 Apple commercial

Image source here