TEN years ago, on October 5, 2011, Steve Jobs died of the consequences of his long-standing cancer. Today Apple marked his 10th year death anniversary with these words:
“For a decade now, mourning and healing have gone together. Our gratitude has become as great as our loss.
Each of us has found his or her own path to consolation, but we have come together in a beautiful place of love for Steve, and for what he taught us.
For all of Steve's gifts, it was his power as a teacher that has endured. He taught us to be open to the beauty of the world, to be curious around new ideas, to see around the next corner, and most of all to stay humble in our own beginner's mind.
There are many things we still see through his eyes, but he also taught to look for ourselves. He gave us equipment for living and it has served us well.
One of our greatest sources of consolation has been our association of Steve with beauty. The sight of something beautiful — a wooded hillside, a well‑made object — recalls his spirit to us. Even in his years of suffering, he never lost his faith in the beauty of existence.
Memory is inadequate for what is in our hearts: we miss him profoundly. We were blessed to have him as husband and father.“
Apple's current former chief designer, Jony Ive, has this to say in remembrance of Steve: “We had lunch together most days and spent our afternoons in the sanctuary of the design studio,” wrote Ive. "Those were some of the happiest, most creative and joyful times of my life. I loved how he saw the world. The way he thought was profoundly beautiful.“
Ive said that he and Jobs had a shared curiosity that formed the basis of a joyful collaboration. “He was without doubt the most inquisitive human I have ever met,” wrote Ive.
This first appeared on Fast Company.