Remembering Steve Jobs, 10 years after his death

The prudent thing to do would have been to write Steve Jobs’ obituary long before his death. We all knew he didn’t have much time. For nearly a year, even as Apple stuck to the story – hoping against all hope – that its co-founder and CEO would succeed, the body of the world’s most iconic leader told a different story. It was saying goodbye to him, and him too. My own farewell session had taken place earlier in the year, in his office on the fourth floor of One Infinite Loop, Apple’s headquarters at the time. Journalist John Markoff and I had arranged the meeting without specifying an agenda, but the three of us knew it was the closing date. It was the middle of the working day and there were thousands of people on campus, but not a single call or visitor interrupted our 90-minute conversation. As if he was already a ghost.

Despite this evidence, I could not bring myself to pre-write this obituary. Call it denial. So when I got the call late in the afternoon of October 5, 2011, that Jobs was gone, I was stunned. And I had nothing. For the next four hours, I typed on the computer Steve Jobs brought into the world – a Mac, what else? – and I told the story of his life and legacy the best I could, in all of its glory and gadgets.

In the last paragraph of the obituary that I never wanted to write, I said, “Steve Jobs’ full legacy will not be settled for a very long time.” I think we’re still working this out. There will never be a leader, innovator or personality like him. And we still live in his world.

Read the obituary here:

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