Steven Jobs (1955–2011) was an American inventor and entrepreneur, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc. Born in San Francisco to unmarried parents, he was adopted by a working-class couple and took their surname, Jobs.

In the late 1970s, Jobs designed, developed, and marketed the Apple II series. In the early 1980s, he was among the first to recognize the commercial potential of a graphical user interface driven by a mouse, which he applied to the Apple Lisa and Macintosh computers.

In 1985, Jobs left Apple and founded NeXT, a computer company focused on higher education and business markets. In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm and founded Pixar, serving as the executive producer of Toy Story (1995). In 2006, Pixar was acquired by The Walt Disney Company, making Jobs Disney’s largest shareholder and a board member.

In 1996, Apple purchased NeXT, bringing Jobs back to the company he had co-founded, then on the brink of collapse. He became interim CEO and was officially appointed CEO in 2000, leading Apple into the era of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad.

From 2003, Jobs battled a rare form of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor for eight years. In 2011, he stepped down as CEO and became chairman of Apple’s board. Jobs became an iconic figure in computing and entertainment, appearing seven times on Time magazine’s cover. He was celebrated for his focus on aesthetics, simplicity, and user-friendly design.

Jobs and Gates, 2007

Jobs and Bill Gates were born the same year, both dropped out of college, and founded companies around the same time. Both were inspired by Xerox PARC in developing personal computers. In the early years, Microsoft earned much of its revenue by developing applications for Apple’s Apple II.

Jobs passed away in 2011 at the age of 56 from cancer. Apple honored him by flying its flags at half-staff.