White Plains Apple Store Mourns the Loss of Steve Jobs

The Apple Store at  mall paid tribute to its chairman and co-founder Steve Jobs by displaying his image on computer and iPad screens in the White Plains store Thursday.

The Palo Alto resident died Wednesday at age 56 after battling pancreatic cancer.

Though it was business as usual—with customers filling the store to buy the new iPhone 4S, or get help from the Genius Bar—the loss of the American icon was felt by local residents.

“I’m a big Apple fan, and have been all my life,” said Paul Clemente, 33, of Yonkers. "It hurts a little, on a human level. He seemed like a good person. On a personal level, he was an amazing innovator and now he’s gone.” 

Clemente, who was buying a new 21.5-inch iMac, said the biggest loss was not knowing what Jobs could have achieved had he lived longer.

Jobs co-founded Apple Computer, later changed to Apple Inc., in 1976, and began phasing out his leadership of the company nine months ago. Jobs was also co-founder and the CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, and was serving on Disney's board of directors.

The death of Jobs has been dominating the media, Facebook and Twitter feeds, and was even felt in the White House.

“Steve was among the greatest of American innovators—brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it,” said President Barack Obama, according to the White House Blog.

Obama credited Jobs with redefining and industry and changing the way we view the world.

“The world has lost a visionary,” said Obama. “And there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.”