Bay Area Mourns Loss Of Steve Jobs
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- He was a conjurer, a modern magician who reached into tomorrow and came up with things that changed millions of lives. And as people gathered at the Apple Store on Stockton Street in San Francisco to mourn Steve Jobs on Thursday, the feeling was more than mourning for an executive or even an inventor. It was something closer to awe for a wizard.
"It's like the end of the innovators," said Scott Robbins, 34, who described himself as an Apple fan of 20 years and who rushed to the store at 1 Stockton Street when he heard the news.
"He was kind of like this generation's John Lennon," added Frank Arico, 58, a software developer visiting San Francisco for the Oracle OpenWorld conference this week, who also stopped by the store.
It was a theme that got repeated in conversations with people who knew Jobs as a larger-than-life pop culture icon but felt the loss on a deeper, surprisingly personal level.
"Everything that I've made that is important to me was made on some sort of Apple product," said Doc Pop, a 34-year-old iPhone developer who makes camera applications standing near the San Francisco Apple outlet. "I don't think (Apple) will have someone who has had so much direct influence. I'm sort of nervous. He's been such a part of my life."
Nearby, Molly Haksdoyle, a 35-year-old clothing store owner from Palo Alto, added that she started crying when the news hit.
"It's really sad. He's affected our lives in many ways," she said, dabbing her eyes.
Apple announced Jobs' death late Wednesday afternoon and remembered him as a "visionary and creative genius." The company announced no cause of death, but Jobs had been diagnosed with a rare pancreatic cancer seven years ago and had a liver transplant in 2009. He was 56.
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Jobs stepped down as head of the tech company in August but had remained chairman of the board until his passing.
Dozens of sticky notes, note cards and letters adorned the windows of the Stockton Street store in remembrance of Jobs. On the sidewalk outside the store, roses, candles and stuffed animals were left below the growing collection of notes.
Some notes simply read, "R.I.P. Mr. Jobs," "iSad" or "Thanks."
Others left lengthy thoughts on Jobs' passing, like one note left by "Everybody" that called Jobs "the greatest CEO of all time."
"I believe I speak for all Apple users when I say we lost a part of our family," the note read.
People crowded around the store, snapping pictures of the memorials and leaving their own thoughts behind.
"I remember the first Apple computer my family had," 22-year-old Skye McLennan said. "I feel like I witnessed all of this happen. He really was a huge part of changing the face of technology forever."
Mike Campton, 21, was scheduled to start work at the Apple Store next week. "That wouldn't be possible without Steve Jobs," he said.
"Steve Jobs really impacted my life because I'm such a tech geek and he's the reason why," Campton said.
Victoria Carpenter, 54, an English professor at the Academy of Art University, brought her class to the memorial. "I was surprised by how moved I was," she said. "He's an incredible inventor."
One of her students, George Sum, 20, is a music production major who said he found out about Jobs' death in class.
"All of the material in our textbooks is all from Apple," Sum said. According to Sum, his teacher was so saddened by news of Jobs' death that he had to take a break from class because he couldn't continue teaching.
Inside the Apple store, business went on as usual as customers tested MacBooks and iMacs, iPads and iPhones. But the image of Jobs' memorial posted to Apple's website lingered on many web browsers.
On Thursday, the Apple website, which usually features slick presentations of multicolored iPods and ever-thinner MacBook laptop computers, simply displayed a black-and-white photo of Jobs, thumb and finger to his beard as if in contemplation.
"The people who think they are crazy enough to change the world are the ones who do," said Cory Moll, a 29 year-old employee at the downtown San Francisco store. "He's really someone special. To hear that he is gone - he's going to be missed."
(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All rights reserved.)
