I know many Mac users will be sad to learn of the first Mac creator has
died. Jef Raskin joined Apple in 1978 when it was still a young
company. He was behind the creation of Apple’s groundbreaking Macintosh.
I know he will be sorely missed by all the fans of the Mac computer.

From Macworld:

Raskin died Saturday night at his home in Pacifica, Calif., his family
said in a statement. In December, he told friends he had been diagnosed
with pancreatic cancer.

Raskin joined Apple in 1978 - as its 31st employee - to start the young
company’s publications department. At the time, computers were primarily
text-based and users had to remember a series of arcane commands to
perform the simplest tasks. In 1979, Raskin had a different idea: A
computer that’s priced affordably, targeted at consumers and extremely
easy to use. A small team, under his command, was put together at Apple
to pursue his concept that would eventually become the Macintosh.
“His role on the Macintosh was the initiator of the project, so it
wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him,” said Andy Hertzfeld, an early
Mac team member.

Raskin, who worked as a computer science professor before joining Apple,
was well aware of the research being done in computer interfaces at
Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center. He worked to bring it to the
attention of Apple executives. “Jeff was incredibly enthusiastic about
what he saw at Xerox PARC,” said Dave Burstein, who is working on a film
about Raskin’s life. Raskin also named the Macintosh after his favorite
apple, though the name was slightly changed because of a trademark issue
with another company. Raskin led the project until the summer of 1981,
when he had a falling out with Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder. He left
the company entirely the following year.

“One of the biggest things I give Jef credit for was putting together
the very beginnings of the Mac team with some extraordinary people who
didn’t necessarily have the credentials, but had everything else to do
something great,” Hertzfeld said Sunday.