From his parents’ California garage Steve Jobs launched the personal computer revolution and built Apple into the most envied, and valuable, technology company in the world.
Steve Jobs, the irrepressible and iconic leader of the personal computer revolution, has been the undisputed king of Silicon Valley for the better part of three decades. From the Macintosh and the iPod, to iTunes and the iPhone, Jobs has secured his legacy as one of the few who dared to “Think Different.”
Here, we take a look at his life: From adoptee to college dropout to business maverick and cancer patient, these are some of the personal and professional highlights of Steve Jobs' life.
1955: Adopted at Birth
Jobs was born Feb. 24, 1955, in San Francisco and was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs. He grew up in the house pictured left and actually created the first Macintosh computer in the garage.
His biological parents — Abdulfattah Jandali and Joanne Simpson — were unmarried graduate students at the time of his birth. The couple later married and had a daughter, whom they raised. Jobs' biological sister is the novelist Mona Simpson.
1972: Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out
Jobs is famously known for dropping out of college after only one semester. After he left, he ended up travelling to India in search of spiritual enlightenment and returned to the United States as a Buddhist with a shaved head.
During this time, Jobs also experimented with psychedelic drugs. He is quoted in the 2005 book What the Dormouse Said by New York Times reporter John Markoff as saying his LSD experiences were "one of the two or three most important things I have done in my life."
1978: You and Me and Baby...
Like his biological parents, Jobs also had a child out of wedlock. In 1978, Jobs' love interest, painter Chrisann Brennan, gave birth to a baby girl. Jobs denied paternity based on claims that he was sterile, so Brennan raised their daugher on her own, even using the welfare system to get by.
Jobs later acknowledged Lisa Brennan-Jobs as his daughter. Lisa was the namesake of one of Jobs' "worst" creations, the Lisa, a $10,000 "ugly piece of machinery ."
Lisa graduated from Harvard in 2000 and is a writer. Her essays are available at www.lisabrennanjobs.net .
1981-1982: Joan Baez
In the unauthorized biography, The Second Coming of Steve Jobs , author Alan Deutschman wrote that Jobs once dated Joan Baez.
Jobs has never confirmed his relationship with the singer, but in another unauthorized biography, iCon: Steve Jobs by Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon, the authors suggested that Jobs would have married Baez, but her age meant it was unlikely the couple could have children.
1982: The Bigger Apple
Jobs bought an apartment in The San Remo apartment building on Central Park West in New York in 1982. Other famous residents of the building include Demi Moore, Steven Spielberg and Steve Martin.
Jobs reportedly spent years renovating the apartment in the building's north tower, but never moved in. He later sold it to U2 singer Bono.
1984: The Big Mac
Apple rolled out the Macintosh computer with 128K RAM of memory in January, 1984. It soon became obvious more memory was need, and Apple released an updated version with 512K RAM.
The Mac was the first personal computer driven by a graphical user interface, becoming the basis for all of today's PC interfaces.
1985: What's NeXT?
Jobs left Apple in 1985 after a power struggle with CEO John Sculley, and started a new computer firm, NeXT Inc. The company's hardware didn't take off, but the software was so solid that Apple eventually bought NeXT in 1997 and invited Jobs back as an advisor.
NeXT software eventually became the basis for Apple's OS X, which runs today's Macs, iPhones, iPod touch and the iPad.
1991: Love and Marriage
Jobs married Laurene Powell on March 18, 1991, in a ceremony at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park, with a Zen Buddhist monk presiding. The couple has three children, Reed Paul, Erin Sienna and Eve.
1995: Toy Story
In spite of his successes with computers, Jobs' first major hit of the 1990s was a movie. Jobs bought animation studio Pixar from George Lucas in 1986.
In 1995, Toy Story became a box office blockbuster, grossing more than $191 million in the U.S. and Canada. When Pixar IPO'd in November 1995, Jobs, who had sunk $60 million into the enterprise, recouped a paper profit of more than $600 million for his 80 percent stake.
2004: The Big C
In July, 2004, Jobs underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer. While he recuperated, Apple's sales and operations chief, Tim Cook, ran Apple, while Pixar's president Ed Catmull oversaw operations there. Jobs returned to work at Apple the following September.
2008: The Business Model
Jobs is famously known for his affection for The Beatles. In fact, when asked about his business model by television news magazine 60 Minutes he replied: "My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys that kept each other's negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts. Great things in business are not done by one person, they are done by a team of people."
2008: Rumors of My Death...
In August, 2008, Bloomberg News mistakenly published a 2,500-word obituary announcing Jobs' death. Jobs responded duringa keynote address in September by borrowing a line from Mark Twain: "reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."
It had been just four years since Jobs underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer. Six months later, in April, 2009, he would undergo a full liver transplant. In January, 2011, it was announced Jobs was taking a medical leave of absence.
2011: Man in Black
For the last decade or so, Jobs is almost always seen wearing the same outfit: black mock turtleneck, Levi's 501 jeans and New Balance 991 sneakers.
This seeming uniform has been the basis of much speculation on the Internet — he wears the same thing so he has one less decision to make every day, it's his own personal branding — and even a tech-geek joke or two: Why does Steve Jobs always wear a black turtleneck? A suit has too many buttons for him.
2011: Patent Not Pending
Jobs has been involved in some amazing projects during his career. In fact, Jobs is listed as either primary inventor or co-inventor on more than 230 awarded patents or patent applications on a range of technologies, from computer and portable devices to user interfaces, speakers, keyboards, power adapters and staircases.
( Source: CNBC )
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