I first met Steve in 1991 and then we reconnected more frequently in the mid-90s when I ran Tunes.com. If I learned one thing from him, it was that people who say "it's just business" are full of it. Everything you do with a passion and a true commitment is personal and every loss or disappointment stays with you for 10 times longer than any wins or triumphs. Steve took everything personally.
He was a very angry guy for a very long time (even with all his Zen and yoga and healthy eating) and that anger drove him more directly and aggressively than even his love of clean and beautiful design. Steve was never upset or angry with honest failures - that was part of the process and he knew that - but he hated lack of effort or people who gave up too soon. His anger though (a lot of which was actually with himself) came from the frustration he felt for many years (several different times) that he was unable to convince the "powers that be" at the time of his vision (whatever it then was) and of the truth of his ideas even though they were so painfully clear to him. He thought he was a great communicator and yet he couldn't reach and convince some of the most important and powerful decision-makers to adopt his suggestions. Eventually he just decided to go it alone and to go around these "gatekeepers" to take his case directly to the consumer public. The results speak for themselves.
If I had to write something for his tombstone, it would be what I always say: We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.
