Steve Jobs: 1955 - 2011

Steve Jobs has died today. He succumbed to a rare form of pancreatic cancer at the prime age of 56. Just by scrolling down my Facebook Wall, a myriad of tributes can be seen about him: he is a visionary, a creative genius, a game changer; mostly, people are thankful for changing their lives forever with iTunes, iPod, iPhone and the iPad. He will truly be missed. But if there's one thing that I would be thankful for Steve Jobs, I thank him for being instrumental in unleashing Pixar Animation Studios to the world. Steve Jobs bought Pixar from Lucasfilm on 1986 and transformed the company from a proprietary hardware seller to the juggernaut blockbuster animation studio that it is today. Under his guidance, Pixar made everyone realize that computer graphics is a viable and effective medium for storytelling, and the world of animation has never been the same since. He eventually sold Pixar to Disney, became Disney's biggest individual stockholder and a member of its Board of Directors, and he was instrumental in installing Ed Catmull as President of Pixar and Disney Animation, and John Lasseter, the brains behind Toy Story, as Chief Creative Officer.

Ed Catmull, Steve Jobs and John Lasseter

Without Steve Jobs, there would be no Pixar today. Rest in peace Mr. Jobs.

*Photo from http://www.filmedge.net/
*For more information regarding Steve Jobs and Pixar, I highly recommend Leslie Iwerks documentary, The Pixar Story. I will try to post a review one of these days.