Jeffrey Raskin | Biography

Jef Raskin has held a wide variety of positions in computing and other spheres, but he is fated to be forever associated with the development of the Apple Macintosh computer, as he was the manager of advanced systems at Apple for this particular project.

In 1943 Jef (Jeffrey) Raskin was born in Brentwood, New York, on Long Island. After local schooling Raskin was awarded a B.S. in mathematics and physics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1964. Following this Raskin was awarded a B.A. in 1965 in the philosophy of science with a minor in music--this was also from the State University of New York at Stony Brook (the two courses had been taken part concurrently). Raskin moved to Pennsylvania State University to study for a Ph.D. in philosophy, but decided he wanted to switch to computer science. Unfortunately Pennsylvania State did not offer a Ph.D. in computer science, so Raskin had to transfer to an M.S. course. He was awarded this degree in 1967 with a thesis on "A Hardware Independent Computer Graphics System." From here Raskin decided to continue in computers and moved to the University of California at San Diego where from 1967 to 1969 he undertook graduate studies in electronic and computer music. These studies were halted when Raskin joined the faculty. During all of his time at various universities Raskin took a number of different jobs to support himself, the majority of these involved computer projects of some sort. From 1970 to 1974 Raskin was an assistant professor at the University of California at San Diego, he taught chiefly in the computing department although he did also teach a small number of courses within the music faculty. From 1974 to 1979 Raskin was a faculty member at the San Francisco Community Music Center, and from 1976 to 1978 he was also working as a computer consultant and writer. At the Music Center Raskin taught recorder, harpsichord, chamber ensemble, and music theory. Another side job at this time for Raskin was Jef's Friends Model Aircraft Company, which he and several partners ran from 1974 to 1979. Raskin is on record as saying that this particular experience taught him more about business than he ever earned in money from it. One reason he may have had difficulty in making money from running his own business was that at various times during the period from 1974 to 1979 he was also involved in Bannister and Crun (a software consulting and documentation service). He also spent two years working as an advertising and portfolio photographer and as a recreation leader for the city of Brisbane recreation department.

From 1978 to 1982 Raskin had what must surely be his most famous position--at Apple Computers Incorporated. From 1978 to 1979 Raskin was the Manager of New Publications and New Product Review. He then moved to become manager of Applications Software from 1979 to 1980. From 1980 to 1982 Raskin was the manager of advanced systems for the Macintosh project. In 1982 Raskin took a position in Denmark, working as an instructor in operating systems and documentation for the Dansk Datamatic Institute of Lyngby. From 1982 to 1989 Raskin was chairman and CEO of Information Appliance Incorporated. Since 1989 Jef Raskin has worked full-time as a user-interface and system-design consultant, based in California. Here his contracts include many world famous names such as Intel, Xerox, and IBM, as well as many smaller, less well-known companies. His position as a consultant has not stopped Raskin from holding positions with other companies at the same time. From 1999 to 2000 Raskin was the VP for Interaction Design in California. A prolific writer, Raskin has authored several books, including The Humane Interface, published in 2000, and he has also had over 500 articles published. In 1982 Raskin married Linda Blum and together they live in California where they have two daughters and a son. There are many other positions that Raskin has held, usually in parallel with the ones here listed; many were short-term projects or part-time positions. For all of the different fields he has worked in, it is still his position as part of the design team for Apple Computers in the late 1970s and early 1980s that Raskin will be remembered for.

Recent Updates

February 26, 2005: Raskin died on February 26, 2005, at his home in Pacifica, California, of pancreatic cancer. He was 61. Source: BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4303961.stm, February 28, 2005; New York Times, www.nytimes.com, March 1, 2005.