WhereIsAtlas · Technology

Steve Jobs

Co-founder of Apple; architect of the iPhone era

Deceased — Died October 5, 2011, aged 56, of pancreatic cancer.

Steve Jobs co-founded Apple in a Los Altos garage in 1976 and spent the rest of his life oscillating between triumph and exile. Ousted from his own company in 1985, he built NeXT and financed Pixar, only to return to a near-bankrupt Apple in 1997 and orchestrate the most remarkable corporate turnaround in modern history.

The run that followed — iMac, iPod and iTunes, iPhone, iPad — reshaped computing, music, phones and publishing in little over a decade. Jobs died on 5 October 2011, one day after the iPhone 4S announcement, leaving Apple as the world's most valuable company.

His estate has largely stayed out of the spotlight; the Steve Jobs Archive preserves his papers, and Apple Park — the 'spaceship' campus he planned — opened in 2017 as his final product.

Quick facts

Born

Feb 24, 1955, San Francisco

Died

Oct 5, 2011 (aged 56)

Co-founded

Apple (1976), NeXT (1985)

Also led

Pixar (1986–2006)

Signature launches

Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, iPad

Sources

• Wikipedia: Steve Jobs — Wikipedia (2026-01-10)
• Steve Jobs Dies at 56 — The New York Times (2025-12-28)
• 'You've got to find what you love' — Stanford University (2005 commencement) (2025-12-28)

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