Apple co-founder, former CEO, and chairman of the board Steve Jobs passed away Wednesday, 5 October 2011 at age 56. The news was released by Apple’s board of directors, whose statement reads:
We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.
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.
His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.
On the same day, Apple CEO Tim Cook sent an email to the company that read:
Team,
I have some very sad news to share with all of you. Steve passed away earlier today.
Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.
We are planning a celebration of Steve’s extraordinary life for Apple employees that will take place soon. If you would like to share your thoughts, memories and condolences in the interim, you can simply email rememberingsteve@apple.com.
No words can adequately express our sadness at Steve’s death or our gratitude for the opportunity to work with him. We will honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved so much.
Tim
Jobs’s family also released a statement:
Steve died peacefully today surrounded by his family.
In his public life, Steve was known as a visionary; in his private life, he cherished his family. We are thankful to the many people who have shared their wishes and prayers during the last year of Steve’s illness; a website will be provided for those who wish to offer tributes and memories.
We are grateful for the support and kindness of those who share our feelings for Steve. We know many of you will mourn with us, and we ask that you respect our privacy during our time of grief.
When Jobs resigned from the CEO position back in August, we collected a series of reflections which are no less apt now (see “Steve Jobs Resigns: Reactions and Remembrances,” 25 August 2011).
Apple has set up a Remembering Steve Jobs page, with a link to an email address for people to share their memories and condolences.
It’s a massive understatement to say that Jobs profoundly affected all of our lives. It is perhaps most telling that many of us learned of his death via a device — a Mac, an iPhone, an iPad, or an iPod touch — whose creation was made possible in part through his work at Apple.
Our most heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.
Global Reaction -- After writing about Apple and Jobs for years, we at TidBITS certainly appreciate his legacy. However, we’re still surprised at the outpouring of sentiment following Jobs’s passing. Columnists, CEOs, and heads of state have written statements or remembrances, and Apple retail stores became impromptu shrines as thousands of people sought to pay their respects.
Here are links to some of these expressions of grief and respect that we’ve collected in the comments section of this article on our Web site. I know the number of items is daunting, but they’re worth it.
President Obama on the passing of Steve Jobs.
Bill Gates’s comment.
Steve Ballmer’s statement.
Steve Wozniak on Steve Jobs.
Another video of Steve Wozniak talking about Steve Jobs. Be sure to watch the final few seconds.
xkcd’s take… be sure to hover over the comic for the tooltip.
Steven Levy’s obituary of Steve Jobs in Wired.
BoingBoing’s retro homage to Steve Jobs.
Tom Standage’s obituary of Steve Jobs in The Economist.
Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal on “The Steve Jobs I Knew.”
Reports and photos from the Apple campus by Robert Scoble.
Nice thoughts about Steve Jobs from Dan Moren of Macworld.
Jeff Carlson’s article for the Seattle Times, “We all interacted with Steve Jobs, every day”
John Gruber’s keen eye.
Ethernet inventor Bob Metcalfe’s memories of Steve Jobs.
John Siracusa remembers Steve Jobs.
Our friend Jason Snell of Macworld, on putting a dent in the universe.
Tributes to Steve Jobs from developers, collected by Macworld.
Guy Kawasaki turns a keynote into an hour-long talk about Steve Jobs and Apple.
Here’s a version of “The Crazy Ones” that never aired, narrated by Steve Jobs.
A very few touching words from Scott Adams (Dilbert).
iOS’s autocorrect fails, weeping.
Apple Stores turned into impromptu memorials (Macworld).
John Markoff’s obituary of Steve Jobs in The New York Times.
Nice piece from Lex Friedman about why the death of someone most people have never met feels so sad.
Nice words from David Pogue.
Interesting take on Jobs’s attitude toward the past. Let it go.
Links to wonderfully imaginative portraits of Steve Jobs.
Jon Stewart sums up how many of us feel. “We weren’t done with you!”
In this time of sorrow, Stephen Colbert’s humor is tremendously welcome.
Adam and Tonya contributed stories about Steve Jobs to Shawn King’s collection for Your Mac Life’s “In Memoriam” show. I really recommend listening to it. You can also get the audio directly here.
Don’t miss Steve Jobs’s outstanding commencement address at Stanford University in 2005
A Steve Jobs tribute crossword puzzle.
Macworld’s look back at Steve’s accomplishments.
Dan Frakes on how Steve Jobs humanized technology.
The New York Times on how Jobs put passion into products.
Randall Stross compares Steve Jobs and Thomas Edison.
It’s good to remember that Jobs was also a tyrant.
The Onion comes right out and says it.
A nice comparison of Steve Jobs and Frank Lloyd Wright from our friend Adam Khan.
Adam talks about Jobs with host Gene Steinberg on the Tech Night Owl Live.
