The death of former Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs on Wednesday has prompted reflection on how Apple technology has defined past years and provided a peek into a digital future.
Jobs was the architect of devices that are built into classes, research efforts and day-to-day student life at UCLA. He was 56 years old when he died.
Apple did not release the cause of Jobs’ death. But Jobs has recently battled pancreatic cancer and stepped down as CEO in August.
“In his public life, Steve was known as a visionary; in his private life, he cherished his family,” said a statement released by his family.
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.
Jobs was an innovator 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, after 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 used to construct 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.
Brian Yau, a third-year communication studies student, said that Jobs has helped define college students’ generation.
Yau remembers watching Steve Jobs’ 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University after his sister recommended the video. He spent Wednesday evening watching the video three times on his MacBook Pro.
Four words from the speech have stuck with Yau throughout the years: “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”
“It means to be passionate for life and to not be afraid to make mistakes,” Yau said. “Going after what you want in life, and don’t take your days for granted.”