Steve Jobs, the former CEO and co-founder of Apple, died on Wednesday, the news being announced by Apple. He was 56.
“Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being,” Apple said in a statement on its website. “Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor.”
“Steve Jobs is one of the great innovators in the history of modern capitalism,” New York Times columnist Joe Nocera said in August. “His intuition has been phenomenal over the years.”
“He was a historical figure on the scale of a Thomas Edison or a Henry Ford, and set the mold for many other corporate leaders in many other industries,” wrote Walter Mossberg, a tech columnist for The Wall Street Journal.
“He did what a CEO should: Hired and inspired great people; managed for the long term, not the quarter of the short-term stock price; made big bets and took big risks.”
Jobs’ death, while dreaded by Apple’s legions of fans, was not unexpected. He had battled cancer for years, took a medical leave from Apple in January and stepped down as chief executive in August because he could “no longer meet (his) duties and expectations.”
Jobs is survived by his wife of 20 years, Laurene, and four children, including one from a prior relationship.
He always spoke with immense pride about what he and his engineers accomplished at Apple.
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do,” he said while delivering a 2005 commencement address at Stanford University.
“If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.”
We’ll have additional details as they become available, but in the meantime, Apple has stated that your thoughts, condolences and memories can be sent to the [email protected] e-mail address.
If you have any personal thoughts, stories or condolences about Steve that you’d like to share, shoot me an e-mail at [email protected] and we’ll post them tomorrow.
Goodbye, Steve. We’ll miss you.
