SPECIAL EDITION: the loss of a true champion

Steve Jobs 
1955-2011
Chairman of the board at Apple, former CEO, and visionary of the Macintosh computer, iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad.


I know this is a blog, website, and podcast home for tennis. But as much as Jimmy Connors probably changed my life in a profound way in tennis, Steve Jobs affected my entire mindset of technology. Steve Jobs, age 52, passed away yesterday stemming from a physical battle originally from pancreatic cancer. 
There are many places to read about his incredible contribution to the world we live in, but let me share what he did for me.
In 1987, I used my first Macintosh computer. This was in the early stages of what was referred to as desktop publishing. It was the early beginnings of my career, and Apple was there. Now as I have moved on to other things, Apple and Steve Jobs are still here...well, at least until October 5th of 2011. I heard the sad news from a text message on my iPhone and then used the Safari browser on the device to read more. I write this today on a MacBook Pro, and both these devices were made possible thanks to Steve Jobs and his incredible teams at Apple. 
    I never met him or saw him in person, but my life and lives of my loved ones have been touched in a very profound way by this man. And for what he brought to us, including the courage to dream big dreams, I will be forever grateful. 
    Let me close with this early career message from Steve and Apple:
Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.

   You have changed the world Steve, and the world will miss you!