We regret to write that our beloved husband, father, and stepfather Bill Atkinson passed away on the night of Thursday, June 5th, 2025, due to pancreatic cancer. He was at home in Portola Valley in his bed, surrounded by family. We will miss him greatly, and he will be missed by many of you, too. He was a remarkable person, and the world will be forever different because he lived in it. He was fascinated by consciousness, and as he has passed on to a different level of consciousness, we wish him a journey as meaningful as the one it has been to have him in our lives. He is survived by his wife, two daughters, stepson, stepdaughter, two brothers, four sisters, and dog, Poppy.” A family member posted on his behalf via Bill’s Facebook profile.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook posted on X, “He was a true visionary whose creativity, heart, and groundbreaking work on the Mac will forever inspire us.”
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Steven Levy on Wired.com writes “Atkinson’s gleeful brilliance helped people draw on computer screens and access information via links.”
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Bill is the original author to HyperCard, a software program developed by Apple in 1987 for the Macintosh that allowed users to create interactive and multimedia-rich applications by linking virtual “cards” together. He is the creator of the lasso tool, the menu bar and the “double-click”, creations which persist on Macs to this day.