(Reuters) Apple Inc co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, counted among the greatest American CEOs of his generation, died on Wednesday at the age of 56, after a years-long and highly public battle with cancer and other health issues.
Jobs' death was announced by Apple in a statement late on Wednesday.
The Silicon Valley icon who gave the world the iPod and the iPhone resigned as CEO of the world's largest technology corporation in August, handing the reins to current chief executive Tim Cook.
Jobs, who fought a rare form of pancreatic cancer, was deemed the heart and soul of a company that rivals Exxon Mobil as the most valuable in America.
(Reporting by Edwin Chan; Editing by Gary Hill)

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Steve Jobs, the Apple founder and former CEO who invented and masterfully marketed ever-sleeker gadgets that transformed everyday technology, from the personal computer to the iPod and iPhone, has died. He was 56.
Apple announced his death without giving a specific cause. He had been battling pancreatic cancer.
"We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today," the company said in a brief statement. "Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve."
Jobs had battled cancer in 2004 and underwent a liver transplant in 2009 after taking a leave of absence for unspecified health problems. He took another leave of absence in January — his third since his health problems began — before resigning as CEO six weeks ago. Jobs became Apple's chairman and handed the CEO job over to his hand-picked successor, Tim Cook.
By the time he turned the reins of the company over to Cook, Jobs had become one of the business world’s greatest comeback kids.
The company he founded, was fired from and then returned to had gone from also-ran to technology industry leader. Under Jobs’ intensely detail-oriented leadership, Apple created several iconic products, including the iPod, iPhone and iPad, which have changed the face of consumer technology forever.
Apple also is now one of the most valuable companies in America by market capitalization. Jobs was one of the richest men in the world.
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Just Wednesday the company released a new iPhone, the first such major product announcement in years that didn't involve Jobs.
Cook sent a statement to employees that in part read "Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple."
Microsoft cofounder and sometimes Jobs Rival Bill Gates tweeted "Melinda and I extend our sincere condolences to Steve Jobs’ family & friends. The world rarely sees someone who made such a profound impact."
(Msnbc.com is a joint-venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)
Medical experts expressed sadness, but not surprise at Jobs’ death, which followed treatment for a neuroendocrine pancreatic tumor, first diagnosed in 2004, a liver transplant in 2009, and then, likely, the recurrence of disease earlier this year.
“He not only had the cancer, he was battling the immune suppression after the liver transplant,” noted Dr. Timothy Donahue of the UCLA Center for Pancreatic Disease in Los Angeles.
In most patients who have liver transplants after such tumors, the median survival rate is typically about two years.
“It’s even more remarkable he was able to what he did,” Donahue said.
Story: Stars react to the news of Steve Jobs' death
It was likely a combination of Jobs’ personal constitution, his dedication to his work and the care of doctors who could help him receive specialized therapies, said Dr. Jeffrey I. Mechanick, an endocrinologist with Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.
In the end, however, even the most dedicated patients have to bend to the disease, he added.
“Sometimes, they just have to say, ‘I’m going to spend time with my family,’” Mechanick said.