Steve Jobs, the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple, has been posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom alongside 16 other "individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors."
The White House and U.S. President Joe Biden announced the seventeen recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom on July 1, and the full list includes Simone Biles, Sister Simone Campbell, Julieta Garcia, Gabrielle Giffords, Fred Gray, Steve Jobs (posthumous), Father Alexander Karloutsos, Khizr Khan, Sandra Lindsay, John McCain (posthumous), Diane Nash, Megan Rapinoe, Alan Simpson, Richard Trumka (posthumous), Wilma Vaught, Denzel Washington, and Raúl Yzaguirre.
"President Biden has long said that America can be defined by one word: possibilities," the official announcement reads. "These seventeen Americans demonstrate the power of possibilities and embody the soul of the nation – hard work, perseverance, and faith.
"They have overcome significant obstacles to achieve impressive accomplishments in the arts and sciences, dedicated their lives to advocating for the most vulnerable among us, and acted with bravery to drive change in their communities – and across the world – while blazing trails for generations to come."
The awards for these 17 nominees will be presented at the White House on July 7, 2022.
Jobs passed away at the age of 56 on October 5, 2011 and, alongside starting Apple and being the driving force behind such products as the iPhone, iPad, iPod, iTunes, iMac, and so much more, Jobs was also a majority shareholder of Pixar, a member of The Walt Disney Company's board of directors, and the founder, chairman, and CEO of NeXT.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.