California Governor declares 'Steve Jobs Day' as Apple holds memorial service

[News_Editor]

California Governor declares 'Steve Jobs Day' as Apple holds memorial service

2011-10-16 17:15:08 GMT+7 (ICT)

SACRAMENTO (BNO NEWS) -- California Governor Edmund Brown officially declared Sunday 'Steve Jobs Day' as Apple holds a private memorial service for its co-founder who died earlier this month.

Jobs died at his home in Palo Alto, California on October 5 as a result of respiratory arrest with metastatic pancreas neuroendocrine tumor as the underlying cause, according to his death certificate. He was buried during a small private gathering on October 7.

Apple is set to hold an invitation-only memorial service on Sunday at Stanford University's campus, where attendees are expected to include Silicon Valley luminaries and others close to Jobs. An event to celebrate Jobs' life is expected to be held on Wednesday in Cupertino.

To coincide with Apple's memorial service, Governor Brown issued a proclamation to officially declare the day Steve Jobs Day. "In his life and work, Steve Jobs embodied the California dream," Brown said in his proclamation. "To call him influential would be an understatement."

He added: "His innovations transformed an industry, and the products he conceived and shepherded to market have changed the way the entire world communicates. Most importantly, his vision helped put powerful technologies, once the exclusive domain of big business and government, in the hands of ordinary consumers. We have only just begun to see the outpouring of creativity and invention that this democratization of technology has made possible."

"It is fitting that we mark this day to honor his life and achievements as a uniquely Californian visionary. He epitomized the spirit of a state that an eager world watches to see what will come next," Brown concluded.

Jobs, who co-founded Apple Inc. - at first known as Apple Computer, Inc. - in April 1976, was first diagnosed in 2004 with islet cell neuroendocrine tumor, a rare type of pancreatic cancer. He subsequently underwent a pancreaticoduodenectomy which appeared to successfully remove the tumor.

However, as rumors surrounding his deteriorating health persisted, the Apple executive began exhibiting noticeable weight loss in 2008 which he credited to a hormone imbalance. In April 2009, Jobs underwent a liver transplant at the Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in Memphis, Tennessee.

Earlier this year, in mid-January, Jobs announced he would take a medical leave while few details about his condition were released. "I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can," he said in an email sent to Apple employees in January.

As concern about Jobs' health increased, Jobs announced on August 24 he would resign as CEO, saying he was no longer able to serve. "I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know," Jobs said in a letter to the company's board of directors and the Apple Community. "Unfortunately, that day has come."

Steve Jobs was 56.

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