Steve Jobs, In Memoriam

Steve Jobs was born in 1955, into an era of rotary phones and room-size computers. He died on Oct. 5, 2011, having put a computer inside a phone and that phone into 120 million pockets.

Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003, and while he went to characteristic lengths to control public knowledge about the details of his condition, he could not hide his physical deterioration. First he underwent surgery and took a leave of absence. When he returned as chief executive officer, he guided Apple through a streak of new products that proved his belief that art and commerce, complicated ideas and simple packages, could be merged into a universal aesthetic. Each launch brought more magic, more acclaim, more profits—and less Jobs. There was a second leave of absence in 2009, and pictures of the CEO introducing iPhones and iPads over the last three years show a man disappearing before our eyes. He died at home, surrounded by his family, the day after Apple introduced the latest version of the iPhone without him.