On October 5th 2011 around 3 PM pacific time, Steve Jobs passed away at his Palo Alto home at the age of 56. A founding member of Apple, a CEO who turned his company around, a human being whose vision not only defied his critics, but changed the very nature of how we interact with our devices.
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(Above: Designed by Jonathan Mak in 2011.)
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When Steve died

Back in 2011 when Dan Knight was still the owner, Leaman Crews wrote the obituary the day after, on October 6th, named “Steve Jobs in His Own Words“. The immediate cause of death was respiratory arrest, with pancreatic cancer being the ultimate cause.
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From our article by Leaman Crews:

• When I first heard the news that Steve Jobs had died, it hurt. It hurt really bad, causing the kind of heartache that is usually reserved for the passing of close family members.Of course, I didn’t know Steve Jobs on a personal level. The closest I ever got to him was being in the same room as him at Macworld and WWDC keynotes.

  crying MacI imagine I’m just one of millions of strangers feeling that sense of loss right now.

  To the legions of Apple fans, Steve felt like a close friend – or a relative that we don’t see very often, but one that we are proud to have in the family tree. Around my house, he was known as “Uncle Steve”.

The same day Steve died, his wife Laurene Powell Jobs released a public statement.

• Steve died peacefully today surrounded by his family.In his public life, Steve was known as a visionary; in his private life, he cherished his family. We are thankful to the many people who have shared their wishes and prayers during the last year of Steve’s illness; a website will be provided for those who wish to offer tributes and memories.

  We are grateful for the support and kindness of those who share our feelings for Steve. We know many of you will mourn with us, and we ask that you respect our privacy during our time of grief.
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A changing world

It wasn’t long ago where the concept of “going online” or hopping on a computer meant sitting behind a desk in front of a monitor, and when you logged off, you stayed disconnected. Nowadays, “computer in your pocket” smartphones with capacitive glass touch screens are ubiquitous, and nearly unanimously accepted as a necessity this day in age.

There was a time in the 2000s when a smart phone was universally accepted as something with a tacky screen, a stylus pen, difficult to navigate UI, and buttons which don’t change.

• Look at the design of a lot of consumer products – they’re really complicated surfaces. We tried to make something much more holistic and simple. When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex, and most people stop there. But if you keep going, and live with the problem and peel more layers of the onion off, you can often times arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions. Most people just don’t put in the time or energy to get there. We believe that customers are smart, and want objects which are well thought through.

This quote to Newsweek in October 2006 was about the design of the iPod, but it applies to nearly every product Apple shipped under Steve’s watch. While traditional computers in general have taken a backseat to smartphone popularity, Macs have also continued to evolve throughout the years and benefitted strongly from the same “ease of use, quality of experience” sort of refinements.
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A forward-looking attitude

From an interview during the release of the first Macintosh, January 20, 1984:

• We’re gambling on our vision, and we would rather do that than make “me too” products. Let some other companies do that. For us, it’s always the next dream.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Jobs’s widow Laurene Powell Jobs launched a website together a few years ago to commemorate Steve Jobs. In it, there are conversations, emails, etc; from Steve. As mentioned also on AppleInsider, this quote stuck with me when I read it.

• “One of the ways that I believe people express their appreciation to the rest of humanity is to make something wonderful and put it out there…and you never meet the people, you never shake their hands, you never hear their story or tell yours, but somehow, in the act of making something with a great deal of care and love, something is transmitted there.”