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Longtime Apple Board Member Bill Campbell Passes Away

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Former Intuit chairman and Apple board member Bill Campbell has passed away following a prolonged battle with cancer, reports Re/code. Known as "The Coach" around Silicon Valley, Campbell was known for providing sage advice to the leaders of some of the Bay Area's biggest companies, including Apple and Google. At one point, he was even assisting Apple and Google at the same time, something Steve Jobs wasn't happy with. From a 2014 interview with Fortune:
"Steve would say, 'If you're helping them you're hurting me.' He would yell at me," recalls Campbell, whose normal banter typically needs to be sanitized for most publications. " I'd say, 'I can't do HTML, come on. I'm just coaching them on how to run their company better.'
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A longtime friend of Steve Jobs, Campbell first joined Apple under John Sculley, where he took on the role of Apple's Vice President of Marketing. After disagreements with Sculley, Campbell, who was a onetime coach of the Columbia Lions football team, he then founded Go Corporation, which was sold to AT&T.

From there, Campbell took on the role of CEO of Intuit and joined Apple's board of directors when Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1997. Campbell remained on Apple's board of directors for 17 years until his resignation in July of 2014.

Bill Campbell believed in Apple when few people did. We'll miss his wisdom,friendship,humor & his love for life. RIP pic.twitter.com/HA7hYgGxNM - Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 18, 2016
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Campbell was with Apple through all of its transitory periods, and following his retirement, he had kind words to share about Apple's current direction under Tim Cook. "Apple is an institution now," he said in the same Fortune inteview. "Tim's done an amazing job of building bench strength within the organization. There's a whole set of new and smart people who are taking over. You're watching that company grow up."

Update: Apple has posted a tribute to Bill Campbell on its website homepage, a day after his death.

Apple-Bill-Campbell-tribute-1024x729.jpg


Article Link: Longtime Apple Board Member Bill Campbell Passes Away
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/04/18/apple-board-member-bill-campbell-passes-away/
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MacRumors said:
"Apple is an institution now," he said in the same Fortune inteview. "Tim's done an amazing job of building bench strength within the organization. There's a whole set of new and smart people who are taking over. You're watching that company grow up."
Article Link: Longtime Apple Board Member Bill Campbell Passes Away
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Apple has definitely established itself as a major player in the tech industry. However, I am concerned about the growing pains that will be felt when Tim and especially Jony retires. Though Apple has grown up, I'm not too sure about if it's always in the right directions. Anyways, RIP Campbell, your work and impact on the tech industry has surely been felt.
 
For the record, Bill Campbell did not found Go, he was hired by the founders (Jerry Kaplan et al) to be the company CEO. Kaplan's book "Start Up" is an essential read for anyone interested in tech industry history.
 
Sigh. Cancer. It has struck my family numerous times. I am saddened anytime I hear this disease claim another life. There is still much love and life to be lived at 75. RIP.
 
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Interesting that I can't remember his name ever seeming to come up on this board when conversations turned to Eric Schmidt and how Eric must have taking ideas back to Google.
 
Would that "if you are yelling at them, you are hurting me" imply Steve only cared about Apple and didn't want anyone else on the board to help others like Google ?....
 
Like a 'rebuild' with sport teams... Apple needs to step up their college recruiting/start up acquisitions for talent, while the old guard is still around to pass on knowledge.
The Jony Ives, Phil Schillers of Apple aren't going to be around forever... like this guy, they will all soon move on, or pass away..it would be a shame if all that knowledge/wisdom is lost and the next gen has to sit there and reinvent the wheel.
 
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Given Google's current market share in phone OS's it seems Steve was indeed right.

Apple in reality should have purchased significant ownership in Google along the way. It would have had more impact than share buy-backs and dividends. They could have entered into a hardware contract with their partner and freeze out Samsung, HTC, and all the other handset manufacturers who have no hope of a good OS. Also would not be open source.
 
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You want to talk about a real Apple fan ...

THIS is the guy ... poster!

Since Macintosh OG released Bill Campbell's Intuit was Apple only software ... check out the intro to Mac by Steve Jobs and you'll see him there with Gates and another guy leaders of the worlds leading software teams.

Solid cat and will be well missed.

If this occured just 8yrs ago you'd see over a hundred posts ... now seems the majority of Apple fans are now iOS kiddies.
 
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