Steve Jobs Has Passed Away

By David Ponce

By now, most certainly you’ve heard. On Wednesday, October 5th 2011, Steve Jobs lost the fight to what is likely complications from his pancreatic cancer. He was 56.

In a whisper, the world lost one of its brightest lights.

Rivers of ink will flow and miles of digital reel will roll; his legacy cemented and documented with the tears and grief of the legion that admired him. The legion whose lives changed forever because of him. And I’m proud to contribute with my tiny drop of respect, inconsequential though it may be. Others will take care to remind us of the tangible impact Steve has had on the marketplace, on culture. I won’t. I’ll just say that Steve was more than a leader, a market changer and a technological luminary. Steve was everything we hope to be, embodied: the perfectionist in us, the aesthete in us, the innovator in us, the rebel in us, the dreamer in us, the non-conformist in us. The world lost him at his prime and that’s the true tragedy.

Let me then finish this little eulogy with my favorite quotes of his.

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. … Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.”

“It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”

“My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better.”

“That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

“I’ll always stay connected with Apple. I hope that throughout my life I’ll sort of have the thread of my life and the thread of Apple weave in and out of each other, like a tapestry. There may be a few years when I’m not there, but I’ll always come back.”

Rest in peace, Steve.