AppleInsider Staff
Bill Campbell, a legendary figure in Silicon Valley and a major part of Apple's history, has succumbed to cancer and passed away on Monday at the age of 75.
Campbell first joined Apple in 1983 as vice president of marketing. He left the company for a number of years — during which he built Intuit into a global financial force — until joining the board of directors following Steve Jobs's return in 1997.
Serving until 2014, Campbell was the longest-tenured director in Apple's history. He was replaced in July of that year with BlackRock partner Susan Wagner.
Campbell's death was first noted by Re/code.
Campbell was known as "the coach," as much for his position as an advisor to modern-day Silicon Valley luminaries as for the fact that he coached the Columbia University football team — his alma mater — in the mid-1970s. He had a particularly close relationship with Jobs until the Apple co-founder's own death in 2011.
"I watched him emerge as a CEO in real time," Campbell said of his time with Jobs. "I had a continuum with him. I watched him when he was general manager of the Mac division and when he went off and started NeXT. I watched Steve go from being a creative entrepreneur to a guy who had to run a business."
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16 Comments
Apple lost one more great person .....RIP :(
I never could figure out why this Apple Board member and founder of Intuit wouldn't allow his software to be compatible with Apple products.
Bill Campbell would eventually depart Apple to run Intuit and then be its Chairman for decades. When Steve Jobs came back to Apple, so did Bill Campbell on Apple's board as one of Steve Jobs most trusted advisors, friend and mentor. And many of the decisions that guided Apple through the post 1997 Apple era had his fingerprints on them.
Rest in peace, Coach.
Bill Campbell == Class