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Steve Jobs will be posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Steve Jobs

Late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs will be posthumously awarded the President Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S., the White House said Friday.

President Joe Biden on July 1 announced seventeen recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a list that includes the late Apple co-founder who died in 2011. The awards will be presented at the White House on July 7.

According to the White House, Jobs is on the list because of his role in revolutionizing the technology industry and adjacent areas.

"His vision, imagination and creativity led to inventions that have, and continue to, change the way the world communicates, as well as transforming the computer, music, film and wireless industries," the White House wrote in a press briefing.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is "presented to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors."

Below is a full list of the 2022 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

  • Sister Simone Campbell
  • Julieta Garcia
  • Gabrielle Giffords
  • Fred Gray
  • Steve Jobs
  • Father Alexander Karloutsos
  • Khizr Khan
  • Sandra Lindsay
  • John McCain
  • Diane Nash
  • Megan Rapinoe
  • Alan Simpson
  • Richard Trumka
  • Wilma Vaught
  • Denzel Washington
  • Raul Yzaguirre

Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 in a California garage alongside Steve Wozniak. He was ousted from the company in 1985, but returned to a struggling Apple in 1997 and eventually led the Cupertino computer maker to a number of hit products, including the iPod, Mac, and iPhone.

Jobs died in 2011 from cancer. He was 56.