The Short, Happy, Creative Life of Steve Jobs

A baby was born February 24, 1955, to a Joanne Simpson, and Abdulfattah "John" Jandali, and was given up for adoption shortly after. No one had a clue that this child would later grow up to be the co-founder of one of the most successful fortune 500 companies this country has ever seen.

Paul and Clare Jobs adopted this baby and named him Steven Paul Jobs. Steve Jobs grew up in the Silicon Valley in California. His father, a Coast Guard veteran, was always working on electronics in their family garage. This became a hobby that Steve Jobs took a very high interest in.

During Jobs's Elementary school years, he tested so well that he was offered the chance to skip on to high school, a proposal his parents declined. After Jobs enrolled in high school he spent a lot of time at Hewlett-Packard, where he met Steve Wozniak, a brilliant computer engineer.

Jobs enrolled in Reed College, and, due to a lack of direction, dropped out six months later. In 1974 Jobs took a Job at Atari as a video game designer.

Then, in 1976 Jobs and Wozniak started Apple Computers. Their company was funded after Jobs sold his Volkswagen bus, and Wozniak sold his scientific calculator. Their first model, called the Apple I, earned them $774,000. Despite this success, the products that followed the Apple I suffered design flaws, and in 1985 Jobs stepped down as CEO of Apple.

In 1986 Jobs bought an animation company from George Lucas, which was later named Pixar Animation studios. In 2006 Pixar Animation Studios merged with Walt Disney, making Steve Jobs Disney's largest shareholder.

In 1997 Jobs regained his post as CEO of Apple. Jobs revamped his management team, altered shareholders' stock options, and imposed a $1 a year salary on himself, along with the introduction of the iMac. Apple had once again caught the attention of the consumers.

In 2003 Steve Jobs was diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumor, a rare but operable form of pancreatic cancer. In 2004 Jobs had a successful surgery removing the pancreatic tumor.

Steve Jobs was a very private when it came to his personal life. What is known is that when he was 23 he fathered a baby girl, Lisa, with his girlfriend Chrissan Brennan. In 1990 Jobs met Laurene Powell, and the two married on March 18, 1991, and lived in Pal Alto, California, with their three children.

On October 5, 2011, Apple Inc. announced that their co-founder had died at the age of 56.