Steven Jobs

1955-2011

Industrialist

 

Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955. He was born to a single mother who had arranged for an immediate closed adoption. At a young age Jobs fell in love with electronics. At 13 Jobs was able to get a summer job working for Bill Hewlett (of HP). Jobs went to Homestead High School, where he befriended Steve Wozniak. He went to Reed College but dropped out. Jobs returned to the Bay Area and got a job working for Atari as a technician.

 

In 1976 Steve Jobs founded Apple Computers with Steve Wozniak, setting up shop in his parents' garage. Their first product was the Apple I followed by the widely successful Apple II. Jobs continually pushed the envelope developing first the Lisa followed by the Macintosh, a computer whose mouse and graphic interface changed the world of computing.

Because of personality clashes with the "grownup" whose was brought in to run the company. Steve Jobs left Apple to set up another company and also became the primary investor in Pixar, later becoming its CEO. Jobs' stock in Pixar, a maker of computer-generated full-length animated movies, enabled him to join the Billionaire Club.

In 1997, Jobs rejoined Apple as its interim CEO. At that point, the company was in free fall, with many predicting its imminent demise. Jobs is credited with single-handedly reviving Apple.

The highly successful I-Mac developed under Jobs direction ended the free fall and began the most significant turn around in US corporate history. Under Jobs direction, the company developed repeated innovative products starting with the iPod, followed by the iPhone and the iPad. Jobs fought liver cancer during the last years of his life, receiving a liver transplant. In the last years of his life, he concentrated on the corporate DNA of the company. In one of his last public appearances, Jobs appeared before the Cupertino city council to get approval for Apple new campus.