Apple chairman and co-founder Steve Jobs died Wednesday, October 5, 2011 at his California home after succumbing to a seven-year battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 56.
Jobs was perhaps best known for his tenure as Apple CEO from 1997 to 2011, during which time he oversaw the production of Apple’s iPod, iPhone, iPad and iMac, devices that changed the way people consume media.
“I see the death of Steve Jobs as one of those moments in history that we will remember for the rest of our lives,” said junior journalism major Sarah Hogue. “When everyone remembers their first iPod and how desperately they needed to get the next best one, how could we not?”
Jobs founded Apple Inc. in 1976 alongside Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, and the company designed and developed the Apple II series, one of the first successful personal computer lines. After losing a power struggle to then CEO John Scully, Jobs was released from Apple.
In his time away from Apple, Jobs bought The Graphics Group, later renamed Pixar from George Lucas, which would go on to produce classics such as Toy Story and Finding Nemo, and become the most successful animation studio in the world.
Jobs also founded NeXT Computer in 1985, which was used to develop the first web server software and write the first web browser, WorldWideWeb. In 1996, NeXT was purchased by Apple, and Jobs would return to the company he helped build.
Jobs went on to turn Apple into the world’s most valuable company, exceeding Exxon Mobile with a market share of $337,174.
“[Jobs] capitalized users obtaining music through the internet with the iTunes store and people are able to now carry 86,000 songs on their iPods,” said junior architecture major Robert Kuentzel. “The world is a much different place.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, the funeral for Jobs is to be held Friday. Jobs was known to have lived by the creed of living each day as if it is your last, and while his last day has passed, his legacy will live on through the many innovations he gave to the world.
“The world has lost a visionary,” President Barack Obama said in a statement posted on the White House blog. “There may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.