Steve Jobs, the architect of Apple technology from the iPod to the iPad, died Wednesday, according to a statement released by Apple Inc. He was 56 years old.
Apple did not release the reason of Jobs’ death. But Jobs has recently battled pancreatic cancer and stepped down as CEO this August.
“Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple,” the company’s statement said.
Jobs was a visionary who never accepted anything less than the best, said Charley Kline, a former UCLA computer science researcher who helped Professor Leonard Kleinrock develop the Internet.
Kline met Jobs in the 1980s, when he had left Apple and founded NeXT Computers. Jobs was looking for a software team and came close to buying Kline’s company.
“My first impression was that he was in many ways brilliant and a little arrogant,” Kline said. “But he was the driving force that turned that company around from the brink of bankruptcy to the most valuable company in the world.”
Jobs eventually returned to Apple, where he constructed the user-friendly and elegant devices that have contributed to UCLA’s technological resources. This year, the UCLA School of Nursing gave students iPod Touches with medical applications.
The Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center used Macs to create multidimensional imaging technology, and a few years ago, Apple products were the building blocks of the Dawson Cluster, a supercomputer built by a UCLA plasma physicist.
Without Jobs at the helm, Apple will weather the next few years with the products they have lined up, Kline said. He added that Jobs’ drive and dynamism will be sorely missed.
Jobs is the brother of Mona Simpson, a UCLA English professor. The siblings were raised separately after their parents gave Jobs up for adoption, but they reunited in their adult lives.
Simpson could not be reached for comment.