With Time Running Short, Steve Jobs Managed His Farewells - NYTimes

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October 6, 2011

With Time Running Short, Jobs ManagedHis FarewellsBy CHARLES DUHIGG

Over the last few months, a steady stream of visitors to Palo Alto, Calif., called an old friends home

number and asked if he was well enough to entertain visitors, perhaps for the last time.

In February, Steven P. Jobs had learned that, after years of fighting cancer, his time was becoming

shorter. He quietly told a few acquaintances, and they, in turn, whispered to others. And so a

pilgrimage began.

The calls trickled in at first. Just a few, then dozens, and in recent weeks, a nearly endless stream

of people who wanted a few moments to say goodbye, according to people close to Mr. Jobs. Most

were intercepted by his wife, Laurene. She would apologetically explain that he was too tired to

receive many visitors. In his final weeks, he became so weak that it was hard for him to walk up the

stairs of his own home anymore, she confided to one caller.

Some asked if they might try again tomorrow.

Sorry, she replied. He had only so much energy for farewells. The man who valued his privacy

almost as much as his ability to leave his mark on the world had decided whom he most needed to

see before he left.

Mr. Jobs spent his final weeks as he had spent most of his life in tight control of his choices.

He invited a close friend, the physician Dean Ornish, a preventive health advocate, to join him for

sushi at one of his favorite restaurants, Jin Sho in Palo Alto. He said goodbye to longtime

colleagues including the venture capitalist John Doerr, theApple board member Bill Campbell and

the Disney chief executive Robert A. Iger. He offered Apples executives advice on unveiling the

iPhone 4S, which occurred on Tuesday. He spoke to his biographer, Walter Isaacson. He started a

new drug regime, and told some friends that there was reason for hope.

But, mostly, he spent time with his wife and children who will now oversee a fortune of at least

$6.5 billion, and, in addition to their grief, take on responsibility for tending to the legacy of

someone who was as much a symbol as a man.

Steve made choices, Dr. Ornish said. I once asked him if he was glad that he had kids, and he

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said, Its 10,000 times better than anything Ive ever done.

But for Steve, it was all about living life on his own terms and not wasting a moment with things

he didnt think were important. He was aware that his time on earth was limited. He wanted

control of what he did with the choices that were left.

In his final months, Mr. Jobss home a large and comfortable but relatively modest brick house

in a residential neighborhood was surrounded by security guards. His driveways gate was

flanked by two black S.U.V.s.

On Thursday, as online eulogies multiplied and the walls of Apple stores in Taiwan, New York,

Shanghai and Frankfurt were papered with hand-drawn cards, the S.U.V.s were removed and the

sidewalk at his home became a garland of bouquets, candles and a pile of apples, each with one

bite carefully removed.

Everyone always wanted a piece of Steve, said one acquaintance who, in Mr. Jobss final weeks,

was rebuffed when he sought an opportunity to say goodbye. He created all these layers to protect

himself from the fan boys and other peoples expectations and the distractions that have destroyed

so many other companies.

But once youre gone, you belong to the world.

Mr. Jobss biographer, Mr. Isaacson, whose book will be published in two weeks, asked him why so

private a man had consented to the questions of someone writing a book. I wanted my kids to

know me, Mr. Jobs replied, Mr. Isaacson wrote Thursday in an essay on Time.com. I wasnt

always there for them, and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did.

Because of that privacy, little is known yet of what Mr. Jobss heirs will do with his wealth. Unlike

many prominent business people, he has never disclosed plans to give large amounts to charity.

His shares in Disney, which Mr. Jobs acquired when the entertainment company purchased his

animated film company, Pixar, are worth about $4.4 billion. That is double the $2.1 billion value of

his shares in Apple, perhaps surprising given that he is best known for the computer company he

founded.

Mr. Jobss emphasis on secrecy, say acquaintances, led him to shy away from large publicdonations. At one point, Mr. Jobs was asked by the Microsoft founder Bill Gates to give a majority

of his wealth to philanthropy alongside a number of prominent executives like Mr. Gates and

Warren E. Buffett. But Mr. Jobs declined, according to a person with direct knowledge of Mr.

Jobss decision.

Now that Mr. Jobs is gone, many people expect that attention will focus on his wife, Laurene

Powell Jobs, who has largely avoided the spotlight, but is expected to oversee Mr. Jobss fortune. A


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graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Mrs.

Powell Jobs worked in investment banking before founding a natural foods company. She then

founded College Track, a program that pairs disadvantaged students with mentors who help them

earn college degrees. That has led to some speculation in the philanthropic community that any

large charitable contributions might go to education, though no one outside Mr. Jobss inner circle

is thought to know of the plans.

Mr. Jobs himself never got a college degree. Despite leaving Reed College after six months, he was

asked to give the 2005 commencement speech at Stanford.

In that address, delivered after Mr. Jobs was told he had cancer but before it was clear that it

would ultimately claim his life, Mr. Jobs told his audience that death is very likely the single best

invention of life. It is lifes change agent.

The benefit of death, he said, is you know not to waste life living someone elses choices.

Dont let the noise of others opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have

the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

In his final months, Mr. Jobs became even more dedicated to such sentiments. Steves concerns

these last few weeks were for people who depended on him: the people who worked for him at

Apple and his four children and his wife, said Mona Simpson, Mr. Jobss sister. His tone was

tenderly apologetic at the end. He felt terrible that he would have to leave us.

As news of the seriousness of his illness became more widely known, Mr. Jobs was asked to attend

farewell dinners and to accept various awards.

He turned down the offers. On the days that he was well enough to go to Apples offices, all he

wanted afterward was to return home and have dinner with his family. When one acquaintance

became too insistent on trying to send a gift to thank Mr. Jobs for his friendship, he was asked to

stop calling. Mr. Jobs had other things to do before time ran out.

He was very human, Dr. Ornish said. He was so much more of a real person than most people

know. Thats what made him so great.

Reporting was contributed by Julie Bosman, Quentin Hardy, Claire Cain Miller and Evelyn M.

Rusli.


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With Time Running Short, Steve Jobs Managed His Farewells - NYTimes