Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is set to be posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the White House said Friday, recognizing his accomplishments as the head of Apple and Pixar, as well as his leading role at the Walt Disney Company.
“His vision, imagination and creativity led to inventions that have, and continue to, change the way the world communicates, as well as transforming the computer, music, film and wireless industries,” the White House said in a statement.
President Joe Biden’s recognition for Jobs marks the latest of accolades the former Apple CEO has received since he died of cancer in 2011. He also received an Edison Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012, honoring “the successful development and launch of game-changing new products and services” as well as his “lasting contribution to innovation.” In 2013, Jobs received a Disney Legends Award for his contribution “to the Disney legacy” as Pixar’s CEO and later a board member.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian honor in the US, and awarded to a wide array of people throughout the country. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was posthumously awarded the honor in 1977, and in 2018, rock star Elvis Presley and baseball great Babe Ruth were both named as well. Among notable still-living people, basketball star Michael Jordan received the honor in 2016, as did entertainment Oprah Winfrey in 2015 and political activist and writer Gloria Steinem in 2013.
This year’s presentation ceremony is set for July 7 at the White House. Other recipients will include Olympians Simone Biles and Megan Rapinoe, former US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and actor Denzel Washington.