I met Steve Jobs only once.
He was coming into Moscone Center to take a walk around the MacWorld floor. Oddly, he was not surrounded by his usual entourage or throngs of people clamoring for his attention. I just happened to be walking out at the time. I don’t usually stop public figures. I live in LA, we leave them be. But I stopped Steve. I felt compelled. He – and the company, and the computer he helped create – changed my life.
I didn’t hear about his death on Twitter. I was sitting on my Macbook Pro working on a wireframe for a new WordPress plugin I’m envisioning when I got a call from my partner, Steve Zehngut. He called me solely to let me know about Steve Job’s passing. It’s not ironic that Zengy and I met because of a Mac. It’s the story of my adult life.
I am thankful now for that chance meeting in San Francisco. I’m thankful that I was able to shake Steve Job’s hand, look him in the eye and thank him for sparking my career. He was gracious and said, “If you’ve succeeded, it’s because you’ve worked hard, but thank you.”
And yet there is a feeling of debt. And of real loss. I’ve never cried at the loss of a public figure before today. Call me a fanboy if you like. I don’t care. I owe a great deal to Steve Jobs. My entire business life was shaped by buying that first Macintosh in 1984. It shifted my career and set me on an entrepreneurial path I never, ever envisioned for myself. I owe a enormous debt to his vision. He will be greatly missed.
Thank you again, Steve. I hope we meet once more.
Ira Serkes says
Every time I look at the photo on the Apple site, I get tears in my life.
Not many people have changed the world.
Steve Jobs did
I used a Lisa in the 80s, and bought a IIcx in the early 90s. Steve’s vision has been part of my life for decades.
The world’s a much better place because of him.
Thank you.
Ira Serkes
Matt Stigliano says
Well said Jeff, well said.
Dawn Thomas says
Ira and I were on a conference call (for which I was late). I found out about Steve Job’s passing right before I jumped on the call. I, too, have never cried about the loss of a public figure. I had to completely contain myself from bursting into tears during our call. I never got the wonderful opportunity of meeting him, but he has had a profound affect on everyone’s lives in the Silicon Valley–and around the world. Someone said on Facebook, “It’s like the day the music died.”
You always have such a wonderful way with words, Jeff. Thank you for this particular post today…
Inna Hardison says
what Jeff said indeed. Thank you Steve, for everything.
Ira Serkes says
Dawn … when you told me what happened (thank you, I’m glad you did) I experienced a complete lack of focus … that I’ve not felt since the 1989 earthquake.
I just edited the photo I took the day Berkeley’s 4th Street Apple Store Opened.
http://berkeleyhomes.com/blog/2011/10/05/community/technology/not-many-people-have-changed-the-world-steve-jobs-did/
I truly think that people will remember this day the way they remember where they were when Kennedy died.
This feels like the world’s first iEulogy.
Ira
John Novak says
What a great moment, and such a humble response from someone whose vision and innovation affected so many.
I remember when you stopped in Iowa on a cross-country family trip to West Virginia, just so you could get the iPhone on day one!
Eric Stegemann says
I too have gone back and forth between joy of remembering how I felt touching and interacting with things that were both beautiful and functional and tears in realizing how much, a man I unfortunately never met, changed my life.
I’ll never forget being in college and for the first time understood function and design, understood the power of making things beautiful and simple, and how it changed your life all while holding my first Mac – then meeting someone two dorms down from me who had just bought the first iPod. I thought this is the way all things should be. It just always felt right.
I try each day to live up to the bar that Steve set.
Jeff Turner says
Last night was very emotional for me. I realized, perhaps simply admitted, that for some time I had not been using the spark he provided to it’s fullest lately. I had not been rising to that bar. This must change.
Julie Ziemelis says
“Like” Jeff. I wrote a post on my blog today, too..http://www.julieziemelis.com/2011/10/05/steve-jobs
Really liked yours..funny how we both felt that Steve impacted our professional lives so profoundly. Great post!
Peter Brewer says
Mate, Lovely tribute. I was running a training session ironically on iPhone Apps for real estate agents this morning when my Sam sent me a tweet letting me know of Steve’s passing. I’ve never met Steve Jobs yet I barely managed to keep my composure. Again, with some irony Jeff, you converted me to Mac and changed my business life after I felt compelled to introduce myself to You at NAR in San Diego 3 years back. No doubt Steve helped shape your latter life. In turn You have helped shape mine. Peter Brewer 2.0.
Jeff Turner says
As you are shaping mine. Thank you, my friend.
Ira Serkes says
When Dawn and I had lunch two years ago at the Monterey CRS Meeting, I looked her straight in the face and said:
“You are way too smart to not be using a Mac”
Ira