Steve Jobs’ death may have grabbed the world’s attention because of the headlines that hit global newspapers, but one of the very few people who is unaware of the tragic news is his own ill biological mother.
Joanne Simpson, who reluctantly gave her son up for adoption after falling pregnant when she was a student, is seriously unwell in a nursing home in Los Angeles and has no idea her son has died, the Daily Mail reports.
The Apple founder’s mother is tragically battling advanced dementia.
She has very limited mental capacity and is said barely to know who she is, let alone what has become of the son she gave away.
Jobs was adopted in 1955 after being born to Abdulfattah John Jandali, a Syrian man, and Joanne Schieble, who was a graduate student at the time. They decided to give him away for adoption because the couple was not married and keeping him would have been deemed shameful by their communities.
Brought up by Paul and Clara Jobs, Steve is thought to have reconciled with his mother, but never made contact with his biological father.
In his renowned 2005 commencement address at Stanford University, Jobs described how his mother signed the adoption papers reluctantly, wanting to give him away to a well-educated couple.
