It is hard to put into words how I feel right now. Steve was my anchor in a turbulent world. I wasn't there at the beginning when Apple started, I first learned who Steve was around the time I used my first Mac in 1992. It was an LCII a thin, pizza-boxed shaped computer. Prior to that LCII, I built and sold Windows machines. 286's 386's & 486's - they ran Windows 3.1. After using the LCII, I always loved Apple's computers. I advocated for Macs when I worked for the Learning Company, at a time when they and many other software developers were releasing Windows-only. Many in that company told me that Apple was doomed, the Mac was dead. This angered me, not so much the prediction (as Apple's situation did seem dire) as with the glee that was expressed, the "dancing on the grave" even though that supposedly doomed company had opened up the relationship between the common man and the computer.
I moved on, left for the silicon valley. Steve came back to Apple at about the same time. I thought at the time "he certainly can't do any worse" and that "he's the last hope for 'computing for everyone'". Apple released the iMac and began the comeback that is legendary. I bought Apple stock and was overjoyed as it rose in value. The stock's rising value allowed me to place a down-payment on my house. I was intrigued by this company that Steve built - started to "look under the hood". I thought there was something there in Steve's leadership at Apple that I could learn from. At one point I applied for a position and interviewed at Apple. Nothing came of it - I was told the position was closed again (by a visibly confused recruiter). So I moved on with my life, watching Steve and following his leadership from afar.
When I decided to get my MBA, Steve inspired me. Apple proved to be a tremendous business to study and I learned early on that Steve's success at Apple was not just cool gadgets, but an all encompassing business strategy based on giving people that technology connection, showing how technology can enrich our lives, rather than existing for it's own sake. I wrote many papers for my MBA about Apple, Steve and the business behind it and around then, Steve became my anchor in an increasingly insane world. Steve showed that a razor sharp focus on excellence, combined with grit and toughness would win the day. When the chips were down for me and I was flattened by circumstance, I would think of Steve. I would think of what happened to him, of the hits he took in life. I would reflect on how he picked himself up, and move on. Find the next inspiring thing. It was that single-mindedness of purpose that I could cling to, like a desperate sailor clings to a floating mast in a foaming, tossing sea. I drew my inspiration from a man I never met, a man I only saw from a great distance - yet I a felt a tight connection to what Steve was about, what made him tick. My anchor is gone and I once again am loose among the tossing, foaming, splattering, stinging waves - but I will catch my breath, I will think about what Steve would do - and I will move on.
My words cannot express my loss at this point - I hope and pray things will be better - though the world will be distinctly emptier without you in it.
Steve, you really did change the world, and for that I am eternally grateful. Thank you Steve, and bless you, wherever you are.