Macintosh Creator Jef Raskin Dies at 61

Apple employee number 31 and head of the team that created the first Macintosh, Jef Raskin, has died at the age of 61. Raskin pioneered using a simple graphical interface in his desire to make computers easier to use. But despite initiating the project, Raskin never saw the Macintosh make its 1984 debut.

Following a bitter dispute with Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Raskin left Apple in 1982 and founded another company devoted to improving computer interfaces. Nonetheless, he is remembered by Macintosh team members as a critical force behind many computing innovations seen today. Raskin, however, was not a fan of Mac OS X, which he characterized as inhumane and complicated.