CUPERTINO, CALIF. (AP) - Apple retail stores closed on Wednesday for a private memorial service for employees to celebrate the life of company co-founder and former chief executive Steve Jobs.
The service, announced to Apple employees in an email by CEO Tim Cook, began Wednesday morning at company headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. It is also being webcast to employees worldwide.
Apple plans to keep its stores closed for several hours so employees can watch the service. At one store in San Francisco, a white curtain was draped across the windows to block the view from outside.
Sheriff’s deputies at the campus directed traffic as employees streamed toward the outdoor amphitheater where the service was slated to take place.
Jobs died Oct. 5 at age 56 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
The celebration is for employees to “take time to remember the incredible things Steve achieved in his life and the many ways he made our world a better place,” Cook wrote.
The event follows a memorial at Stanford University last Sunday for friends and family. That service at Memorial Church reportedly brought out tech titans including Oracle chief Larry Ellison and Microsoft’s Bill Gates, as well as politicians including Bill Clinton. U2 frontman Bono and Joan Baez reportedly performed.
Jobs died on Oct. 5 at age 56 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
___
Associated Press writer Rachel Metz contributed to this report.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.