Tim Cook Commemorates Steve Jobs on Fourth Anniversary of His Death

Apple CEO Tim Cook has sent an internal email to employees (via The Telegraph) to commemorate the fourth anniversary since the death of late Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, who passed away October 5, 2011 following a lengthy illness.

Cook described Steve as a "brilliant person," encouraging Apple employees to ask their co-workers about "what he was really like," and reminded his staff about the "privilege and responsibility" of continuing the work that he "loved so much."

Team,

Today marks four years since Steve passed away. On that day, the world lost a visionary. We at Apple lost a leader, a mentor, and many of us lost a dear friend.

Steve was a brilliant person, and his priorities were very simple. He loved his family above all, he loved Apple, and he loved the people with whom he worked so closely and achieved so much.

Each year since his passing, I have reminded everyone in the Apple community that we share the privilege and responsibility of continuing the work Steve loved so much.

What is his legacy? I see it all around us: An incredible team that embodies his spirit of innovation and creativity. The greatest products on earth, beloved by customers and empowering hundreds of millions of people around the world. Soaring achievements in technology and architecture. Experiences of surprise and delight. A company that only he could have built. A company with an intense determination to change the world for the better.

And, of course, the joy he brought his loved ones.

He told me several times in his final years that he hoped to live long enough to see some of the milestones in his children’s lives. I was in his office over the summer with Laurene and their youngest daughter. Messages and drawings from his kids to their father are still there on Steve’s whiteboard.

If you never knew Steve, you probably work with someone who did or who was here when he led Apple. Please stop one of us today and ask what he was really like. Several of us have posted our personal remembrances on AppleWeb, and I encourage you to read them.
Thank you for honoring Steve by continuing the work he started, and for remembering both who he was and what he stood for.

Tim

Cook replaced Jobs as Apple CEO on August 24, 2011 and introduced the iPhone 4S, alongside the launch of iOS 5 and iCloud, on the day prior to Jobs' death. He has shared similar tribute messages for Steve over the past three years.

Jobs co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976, but was ousted from the company in 1985. He returned as CEO in 1997 and remained at the company until his death in 2011, overseeing the launch of iconic products such as the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad.