Aoife Considine
Staff Writer
They say you always remember where you were when Kennedy was shot. That was a little before my time, but there have been a few events similar within my lifetime; 9/11, Obama’s presidency win, Osama Bin Laden’s capture to name but a few. Yesterday, while watching the news in the Trinity gym, I experience another of these situations.
Stephen Paul (Steve) Jobs was born in San Francisco, California on the 24th of February 1955 to Abdulfattah John Jandali and Joanne Schieble, only to be adopted by Paul Jobs and Clara Jobs. A college drop-out and physcadelic drug taker, Steve Jobs went on to co-found one of the largest companies of the 21st century.
Apple was founded in 1976, the brainchild of Steve, along with Steve Wozinak and Ronald Wayne. The 35 years that have passed since have seen the invention of the Macintosh computer, Jobs being fired for poor management skills, the NeXT computer, WebObjects, Pixar, Jobs’ return to Apple as CEO, the iMac, the iPod, iTunes, the iPhone and the ultimate iRevolution.
In mid 2004, Jobs announced to his Apple employees that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer but after undergoing a pancreaticoduodenectomy in that July was given the all clear.
Two years later in 2006, people’s concerns arose again as to Jobs’ health after appearing “gaunt” and “listless” while delivering the keynote for Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference. The next four years or so saw Jobs and Apple quelling rumours of terminal illnesses, putting sicknesses down to “common bugs” and “hormone imbalance”.
In 2009 Jobs took a 6-month leave of absence to allow him to focus on his health. During this time he underwent a liver transplant that was said to have gone “excellent”ly.
On January 17th of this year, Jobs took another leave of absence, again to focus on his health, leaving Tim Cook at the reigns while still continuing to be involved in major strategic decisions at the company.
On August 24th, Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple.
Buddhist, loving husband, devoted father to four children and with a net worth of $8.3billion, Steve died yesterday aged only 56. His death was announced by Apple in an announcement which read:
“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.”
He has left behind a legacy that has already been compared to that of Henry Ford, Carnegie and Edison. Whether you love Apple or hate it, you cannot deny that it has gone above and beyond what any other Computer Company has ever done. Apple has created a way of life, a sleek vision of a brighter future and were it not for Jobs, it would never have been.
The news segment ends and I’m brought back to reality; a college gym in a small city on a small island country, and everyone around me is running to a beat coming from a tiny personal music playerr connected by those unmistakable white earphones. R.I.P. Steve, you were a visionary and a hero to so many, this writer included.
“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.”
-Steve Jobs
