Here is a look at the life of Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc., maker of the Macintosh computer, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad.
Personal:
Birth date: February 24, 1955
Death date: October 5, 2011
Birth place: San Francisco, California
Birth name: Steven Paul Jobs
Father: Adoptive – Paul Jobs, machinist
Mother: Adoptive – Clara (Hagopian) Jobs, accountant
Marriage: Laurene (Powell) Jobs (March 18, 1991-October 5, 2011, his death)
Children: with Laurene Jobs: Reed Jobs, Erin Jobs, and Eve Jobs; with Chris-Ann Brennan: Lisa Brennan-Jobs
Education: Attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, 1972
Religion: Zen Buddhism
Other Facts:
At about age 12, Jobs asked William Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard for some parts to complete a school project. Hewlett offered Jobs an internship at his company.
Met Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in high school when Jobs was 13 and Wozniak was 18.
Dropped out of Reed College after one semester, but audited classes including calligraphy and modern dance
Rejoining Apple in 1997, Jobs received an annual salary of $1.00.
Jobs tracked down his biological parents Joanne Schieble and Abdulfattah Jandali and discovered that his younger sister is novelist Mona Simpson.
Timeline:
1972 – Graduates high school and enters Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Jobs drops out after one semester.
1974 – Takes a job with Atari designing video games, then leaves that same year to travel through India.
1976 – Co-founds Apple in his family’s garage with Steve Wozniak and introduces the Apple I computer.
1977 – Along with Wozniak, produces the Apple II.
1980 – Apple comes out with the Apple III.
1983 – The Apple Lisa is introduced which is purportedly named for his daughter, Lisa.
1984 – Apple introduces the Macintosh.
1985 – Leaves Apple due to disagreements with management. Launches the computer company NeXT.
1986 – Purchases Pixar Animation Studios from George Lucas.
1996 – Sells NeXT to Apple and rejoins Apple as a consultant.
1997 – Is named interim CEO of Apple.
1998 – Apple introduces the iMac.
2000 – Becomes permanent CEO of Apple.
2001 – Apple introduces the iPod, a portable mp3 player.
April 28, 2003 – Apple launches the iTunes store, a download music service.
July 2003 – Apple Corps, Ltd., the record company owned by the Beatles, sues Apple, Inc., for trademark violation over the apple logo used on the iTunes website. The suit is settled in 2007.
2003 – Jobs is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
July 31, 2004 – Undergoes surgery to remove a tumor related to the cancer.
2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010 – Jobs is named to the Time 100, the magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people.
2006 – Pixar merges with The Walt Disney Company and Jobs takes a position on Disney’s board of directors.
April 1, 2006 – Apple celebrates its 30th birthday.
January 9, 2007 – Jobs unveils the iPhone at the Macworld conference.
2008 – Introduces the MacBook Air.
June 27, 2008 – A class action suit is filed against Jobs and several members of the Apple’s board of directors, claiming that they had participated in the backdating of stock option grants. In 2006, Apple was forced to restate its financial results after acknowledging that an internal investigation had revealed irregularities in its stock option grants between 1997 and 2001.
January 5, 2009 – Writes an open letter to the public dismissing rumors about his health, claiming that his weight loss in the past year is due to a “hormone imbalance.”
January 14, 2009 – Announces he will take a medical leave of absence until the end of June 2009. Jobs gives no details on his health issues other than that they are “more complex” than originally thought.
June 20, 2009 – The Wall Street Journal reports that Jobs underwent a liver transplant in April 2009. The surgery is confirmed by the Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in Memphis, Tennessee, on June 23, 2009.
June 29, 2009 – Apple spokesman Steve Dowling announces that Jobs has returned to work.
January 27, 2010 – Jobs introduces the iPad. The half-inch-thick, 1.5 pound, 9.7 inch iPad allows users to read books, play games or watch video.
January 2011 – Takes another medical leave of absence.
March 2, 2011 – Jobs receives a standing ovation when he takes the stage to unveil the iPad 2.
June 6, 2011 – At the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) Jobs introduces iCloud the new online media storage system. Other Apple officials demo the new operating systems OS-X Lion and iOS-5.
August 2011 – Apple Inc. and oil company Exxon Mobil jockey for position as the most valuable company in the United States, with market capitalizations between $345 billion and $350 billion.
August 24, 2011 – Resigns as CEO of Apple, but announces he will stay on as chairman. Tim Cook is promoted to CEO.
October 4, 2011 – Apple announces their latest updated smartphone – the iPhone 4S.
October 5, 2011 – Steve Jobs dies at the age of 56.