We woke this morning to the sad news that Steve Jobs had passed away at the age of 56 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. It is always a waste of someone’s life to die at what is a relatively young age but somehow it is always more shocking when it is someone we’ve all heard of and who’s influence on the world of technology has been so great.

What I wasn’t aware of, was that as well as being chairman of Apple, he was CEO and majority shareholder of Pixar Animation until its acquisition by the Walt Disney Company in 2006. Consequently Steve Jobs became Disney’s largest individual shareholder at 7 percent and a member of Disney’s Board of Directors.

He was also a huge fan of the Beatles and, when asked about his business model he was quoted as saying “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.”.

If you click on www.apple.com, Apple’s corporate website, you will be greeted by a simple page showing Jobs’s name and lifespan next to his greyscale portrait. Clicking on Jobs’s image you will find an obituary that reads “Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.”.

I feel somewhat humbled after the cheap shot I made in yesterday’s post about the latest Apple product!