Yahoo Co-Founder Jerry Yang on Steve Jobs’s Death

Yahoo Inc. co-founder Jerry Yang said Wednesday about Steve Jobs’s death: “Steve was my hero growing up. He not only gave me a lot of personal advice and encouragement, he showed all of us how innovation can change lives. I will miss him dearly, as will the world.”

Bartz: ‘Sometimes Feared, But Always Revered’

Carol Bartz, the former CEO of Yahoo Inc. and Autodesk Inc. who has known Apple Inc.’s Steve Jobs since the 1980s, said Wednesday of his death:

“It’s the ultimate sadness. First of all, it’s a young person who was revered, sometimes feared, but always revered. In a way, it’s kind of prophetic; everyone was hoping he could be on stage yesterday” during Apple’s iPhone announcement. “He was a very special person, and he didn’t get to where he was by having people like him all the time. He got to where he was because he had a vision and a purpose. It’s easy to try and please everyone, but he kept to his principles.”

Ms. Bartz said she remembers when Mr. Jobs “chewed me out” on the phone in the mid-1990s after Autodesk, which develops computer-aided design software, decided to stop developing software for the Apple Mac computer platform. “I had to put the phone and walk to the other side of the room,” she said. “But that was his job.”

Ms. Bartz last saw Mr. Jobs in February, when both attended a dinner with President Obama at the house of venture capitalist John Doerr. Mr. Jobs “was involved and interested and opinionated, but in a little bit of a gentler way,” she said.