Steve Jobs

He tied the knot with Laurene Powell on March 18, 1991. The couple was blessed with three children, a son Reed, and two daughters, Erin and Eve.

In 2003, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He succumbed to the disease on October 5, 2011. A funeral was held two days later. He was buried in an unmarked grave at Alta Mesa Memorial Park, the only non-denominational cemetery in Palo Alto.

Born on February 24, 1955, Steve Jobs was the adopted son of Paul Reinhold and Clara Jobs. His biological parents were Abdulfattah ‘John’ Jandali and Joanne Carole Schieble, who could not raise Steve as their parents objected to their relationship.

Ever since a young age, Jobs was exposed to the world of mechanics. He would spent long hours with his father, dismantling and rebuilding electronic devices in the family garage. It was these experiences that gave the little boy tenacity and mechanical prowess

Academically, after passing his high school in 1972, he enrolled at the Reed College but dropped out of the same in a time frame of six months to pursue creative classes, including a course on calligraphy.

His first move professionally was that of a technician at Atari, Inc. in Los Gatos, California, in 1973.

In mid-1974, Jobs went to India to meet Neem Karoli Baba for spiritual enlightenment. Before he could meet Neem Karoli Baba, the Baba died and after a brief hiatus of about seven months, Jobs returned to Atari to create a circuit board for the arcade video game Breakout.

Along with Wozniak, he developed a circuit board eliminating about 50 chips from the machine thereby making the same compact. Next was the development of the digital ‘blue box’, which allowed free-long distance calls. It was the positive response of the blue box that instilled in him the need to make it big in electronics.

In 1976, along with Wozniak, he founded ‘Apple Computer Company’. Initially, the company mainly aimed at selling circuit boards. Same year, Wozniak invented the Apple I computer.

In 1985, difference of opinion between him and the company’s CEO John Sculley led to Jobs resigning from his own founded company. In the same year, he founded NeXT Inc. The company was famous for its technical strengths especially its object-oriented software development system.

He created a sensation in the world of cellular device with the launch of first generation iPhone. The first of its kind, the smartphone included multimedia capabilities and quad-band touchscreen. It was named the ‘Invention of the Year’ in 2007 by Times Magazine.