Steve Jobs was a pioneer of the personal computer revolution, of the 1970s. He was born on February 24, 1955 in San Francisco, CA, and was adopted at birth. Being raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and growing up so close to Silicon Valley, helped to influence his interest in the personal computer industry.

He started attending Reed College in 1972 but decided to drop out in 1974, to travel through India and study Buddhism. After working at Atari for a brief period, Steve, along with his close friend Steve Wozniak, started Apple Computer in 1976, in his parents garage.

They started the company in order to sell a personal computer, that Woz invented. A year later they both gained wealth and fame for the Apple II, which dominated the personal computer market.

After a tour of Xerox in 1979, Steve saw the potential for a mouse-driven computer, with a graphical user interface. Then in a Super Bowl commercial in January of 1984, he introduced the Macintosh. It was the first mass-produced computer, with a GUI.

In 1983 Steve hired John Sculley from the Pepsi-Cola company, to serve as Apple's CEO. But after a short time he realized their vision for the company, greatly differed. Sculley favored open architecture computers like the Apple II, while Jobs wanted the company to focus on the Macintosh, as a business alternative to the IBM PC.

The Apple II and Macintosh divisions operated like separate companies within Apple, and Sculley had very little control over Steve’s Macintosh division. Sculley decided to reorganize Apple, in May of 1985. He presented a plan to the board that would remove Steve from the Macintosh devision, and in turn render him powerless within Apple.

In response to Sculley’s reorganizations plans, Steve developed one of his own, which would get rid of Sculley and allow him to take over the company. But after Steve's plan was discovered, he decided just to leave Apple.

The Board declined Steve’s resignation, and asked him to reconsider leaving the company. But at the same time, Sculley told Steve he had all of the votes he needed, to go ahead with the reorganization.

So on September 17, 1985, Steve turned in his letter of resignation.

After leaving Apple, Steve founded NeXT computer platform. He started the company along with five senior employees, who resigned from Apple when he did.

NeXT released their first workstations in 1990, which were priced at $9,999. The workstation was known for its technical strengths, but they were largely dismissed because of the cost.

They later released a revised version called the NeXTcube, which was able to share voice, image, graphics and video, in email for the first time. But after selling only 50,000 machines, NeXT transitioned the company to software development.

In February 1986 Tim Berners-Lee, create the first World Wide Web browser, using a NeXT Computer.

While Steve was away from Apple, he also funded a spin-off company of Lucasfilms which they renamed, Pixar. Toy Story released in 1995, was the first film produced by the company, and it brought critical acclaim to the studio.

Pixar went on to produce numerous box office hits, and helped make the visual effects industry what it is today.

In 1996, Apple announced it would purchase NeXT, which would in turn bring Steve, back to the company he cofounded. The deal was finalized in February of 1997, and in July of 1997, Steve was given the title of interim CEO, after then-CEO Gil Amelio was ousted.

Steve terminated a number of projects at Apple in March of 1998, to concentrate efforts on returning the company to profitability. One of the biggest things he changed, was the licensing program for Macintosh clones, which made it too costly for the manufacturers to continue making them.

After Steve returned to Apple they started the "Think Different" ad campaign, which brought about one of the most powerful television commercials in history.

The original plan was for Steve to do the voiceover for the commercial, but Steve didn't want it to be about him. So Richard Dreyfuss was chosen to do the voiceover, for the one that aired on TV.

Below is a quote of that ad.

Under Steve’s guidance, Apple significantly increased sales. And with the introduction of products like the iMac, iPod, iTunes Store, iPhone and iPad, Apple has become one of the most profitable, and recognized companies in the world.

In October of 2003, Steve was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor, in his pancreas. Despite his diagnosis, Steve resisted his doctors' recommendations for medical intervention, and refused to undergo surgery for the cancer, for nine months.

Instead he relied on a vegan diet, acupuncture, and other types of natural healing to fight the disease. According to many doctors, that choice led to his early death.

Steve finally decided to get professional help and in July of 2004, underwent a pancreaticoduodenectomy. The surgery appeared to remove the tumor successfully, but he did not receive chemotherapy or radiation therapy, afterwards.

On January 14, 2009, Steve wrote in an internal Apple memo, that his health issues were more complex than he originally thought, and he took a six-month leave of absence.

Then in April of 2009, Steve underwent a liver transplant, and his prognosis was described as excellent. After the transplant, Steve returned to work at Apple, but a year and a half later, was granted another leave of absence.

During the leave he said he would continue to be involved, in major decisions at the company. Then on August 24, 2011, Steve wrote a letter to the board, announcing his resignation as Apple's CEO and said the following.

Steve died on October 5, 2011, at his home in Palo Alto, California, with his wife, children, and sisters by his side. The cause of death was determined to be a relapse of his previously treated islet-cell neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer, resulting in respiratory arrest.

Steve left a powerful message with his now famous “How to live before you die” commencement speech at Stanford University, in 2005. He talked about the delicate subject of mortality, and told the students that death is a great motivator, to live a better life.

Here is just one part of the speech, and it truly makes a lot of sense.

If you would like to watch the Stanford University speech, you can use the link below.

At Apple's memorial for Steve, new CEO Tim Cook, played an unaired version of Steve narrating "The Crazy Ones" TV ad. Now that he's gone, the words of the ad seem to have more of a meaning, and show the essence of his life, and what he was truly all about.

To hear Steve's version from the memorial, use the link below.

Many people have been touched by Steve's life, and the things he envisioned and created. After he died, Apple launched a memorial page, where you can read thoughts and memories, from people all over the world.

You can use the link below, to visit Steve's memorial page. You can even post a message of your own, if you'd like.