Former Apple CEO Jobs dies at 56 after years-long battle with cancer
Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple and mastermind behind innovations including the iPhone and iPad, died Wednesday in Palo Alto, Calif., at the age of 56.
His death was announced by Apple, which was started by Jobs and his high school friend Stephen Wozniak in 1976 in a garage.
Jobs had long struggled with cancer, although he remained the face of Apple as he underwent treatment, continuing to introduce new products. He first underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer in 2004, received a liver transplant in 2009 and took three leaves of absence as Apple’s CEO before resigning in August.
Apple officials and faculty from the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University expressed feelings of sadness Wednesday as the news of Jobs’ death settled in.
‘We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today,’ Apple’s Board of Directors said in a statement. ‘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.’
Jason Dedrick, associate professor of information studies, was finishing up a class in Hinds Hall when he learned of Jobs’ death.
Dedrick has studied Apple Inc. since the early 1990s when Jobs was ‘in exile’ from the corporation.
‘Jobs has been at the heart of what they’ve done up to this point,’ Dedrick said, adding later that Jobs helped shape the industry and it would be interesting to see if the company would be able to sustain that.
Jobs was both a tough negotiator and risk taker, which led, in part, to the company’s success, Dedrick said.
‘Sometimes he was right, sometimes he was wrong. But when he was right, they turned out to be big hits and big successes,’ he said.
Since Jobs’ resignation in August, Apple has been under the operation of Timothy Cook, who Dedrick described as running the company in an efficient and cost-cutting manner.
Dedrick said he doesn’t believe Cook is as much of a visionary as Jobs was, but believes the company still has a considerable amount of talent.
Anthony Rotolo, assistant professor of practice and social media strategist in the iSchool, tweeted about Jobs’ death shortly after the news broke. Rotolo said he was shocked that Jobs’ death came so soon after he stepped down as Apple CEO. Rotolo said that Jobs inspired his work at the iSchool, as he tries to get people to pursue technology as a career.
‘He was design-focused, which allowed people who do not consider themselves to be techies to really appreciate technology and what it could do for their lives,’ he said. ‘His presentations of that technology connected with people in ways that the rest of the tech industry really couldn’t pull off.’
Although Jobs and his creativeness are gone, Rotolo said he expects Apple to perform fine in the future, as he believes Apple has been preparing for this for quite some time.
Both Rotolo and Elizabeth Liddy, dean of the iSchool, put Jobs atop their list of most influential innovators.
‘I think the fact that he brought together being a technologist and a visionary and a business person, that’s pretty unique,’ Liddy said.
She added: ‘From my field, the information technology field and the communicative side of it, you can’t imagine anyone who’s had more impact on what we all accept as technology at our fingertips.’
Published on October 5, 2011 at 12:00 pm
