Discover Yahoo! With Your Friends

Explore news, videos, and much more based on what your friends are reading and watching. Publish your own activity and retain full control.

To get started, first

YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    The Lookout

    Steve Jobs’ unusual meeting with his father


    In an interview with "60 Minutes" on Sunday evening, Steve Jobs' biographer Walter Isaacson revealed that the Apple founder actually did meet his biological father face-to-face once--even though neither man realized it at the time.

    The intensely private Jobs sought out his biological mother and sister in the mid 1980s, saying that he felt something was missing from his life. He became very close with his biological sister, the novelist Mona Simpson. But he decided he didn't want to meet his father, Abdulfattah Jandali, who had left his mother when Mona was still young. (The couple gave Jobs up for adoption when they were both in graduate school.)

    "I learned a little bit about him, and I didn't like what I learned," Jobs says in new audio recordings released by Isaacson. "I asked her to not tell him that we'd ever met and not tell him anything about me."

    But it turns out they had already met, even though neither man realized it. When Mona Simpson tracked down Jandali, he told her about a restaurant he used to manage in Silicon Valley that was very popular. "Everybody used to come there, even Steve Jobs used to come there," he told her.  "He was a great tipper." Simpson was shocked, but didn't reveal that Jobs was Jandali's son.

    "I remember meeting the owner who was from Syria, and it was most certainly him, and I shook his hand and he shook my hand and that's all," Jobs told Isaacson.

    Jandali, now 80, said he sent Jobs' birthday emails after he found out he was his father, and claims that one time he received a response that just said "Thank you."

    Other popular Yahoo! News stories:

    Economists see meager growth over next year

    Reports say that Romney's state health plan supports illegal immigrants

    U.S. withdraws Syria envoy after threats

     
    • SAVE THE WORLD  •  Chicago, United States  •  7 mths ago
      Any Idiot can produce a child. It takes a real man to be a father.
      • timofte 7 mths ago
        indeed...
      • gypsy 7 mths ago
        like jobs was an idiot when he gave up Lisa???
      • night_crawler 7 mths ago
        Gene and DNA plays a big role at birth shaping a person.
    • Masahiro  •  Concord, United States  •  7 mths ago
      its kind of funny because Jobs disowned his own daughter when he had a child when he was about 22- kind of brings up the nature vs nurture debate
      • spidey_man 7 mths ago
        Another interesting fact; the Apple Lisa was named after her. He was a complex man, who fought his demons like we all do.
      • at 7 mths ago
        father's genes!
      • Use your common sense! 7 mths ago
        Maybe he doubted that he would be a good father, based on his own and the emotional problems he probably knew he had. Don't judge someone until you have been where they have been.
    • xanadu  •  Dallas, United States  •  7 mths ago
      Jobs was a visionary, but - at least some of the time - he could apparently be a major jerk. In other words, he had good points and bad points - just like the rest of us.
      • Wood Y 7 mths ago
        uhh, no. He had MOSTLY bad points. Pretty much, in nearly any realm he was involved in, OTHER than making lots of money, he sounds like he was a crummy human being.
      • JC 7 mths ago
        you guys god jerk and crummy human from this article? I don't want to meet my real fater either and don't think that makes me a jer and crummy human. He "was a good tipper"!
      • Corey 7 mths ago
        I agree with Jobs, that was not his father, your father is the man who raises you and loves you!
    • Comfy  •  Austin, United States  •  7 mths ago
      What can I say...........only that we as human beings when young make lots of mistakes that affect us throughout our entires lives. None of us are perfect. I'm sorry for Mr. Jobs and his father. They both lost.
      • Miami Dolphins 7 mths ago
        No his father lost not Steve.
      • Anthony 7 mths ago
        Very well said. Life is a challenge, an adventure, a long medley of opportunities and difficulties. The important thing is whether or not we learn and grow from our experiences. Nothing and no one is ever lost. (Not that I think most commentators here on Yahoo will understand that...)
      • REBECCA C 7 mths ago
        That man is not his father, the man who raised him up is.
    • ZipLine33  •  7 mths ago
      How come S.Jobs never addresses the fact that he also abandoned his first child? He should have talked about how he felt when he realized that he was like his own biological father ...
      • Randall 7 mths ago
        really?
      • Nena 7 mths ago
        Oh brother, get over it. He ultimately acknowledged his daughter, and after DNA tests were conducted. If I were a man, and a woman who I do not have a formal relationship claims she's pregnant with my child,I would also not recognize anything unless I have DNA proof. But....I"m not the type to be procreating out of wedlock.
      • SonnyOne 7 mths ago
        He didn't procreate out of wedlock. This is his eldest daughter, before he got married. If you watch 60mins, after 10 years he found her and brought her and brought her into his home. It was important to him to rebuild the relationship, which he did.
    • vision of choice  •  Oakland, United States  •  7 mths ago
      biological donor.. not his father. his father is paul job who raise, support, and taught steve.
    • A Yahoo! User  •  7 mths ago
      Searchrich'Singles ©○m is a personals site where you can meet successful rich men, classy mature women, rich women looking for marriage, or just meet beautiful friends and singles. Good luck :)
      Black people can really jump :)51038231810
    • REBECCA C  •  7 mths ago
      Not all adoptive children feel the need to SEEK out their biological parents. I am adopted and I was obviously put up for adoption for a reason. My parents (the ones who raised me) CHOSE me and they are my Real Partent not the ones who conceived me. I was given a second chance when I was adopted. I always new I was adopted. My mom always told me I was special and that they chose me and wanted me.

      The only thing I want to know about the biologicals is their medical history, I have no use for them otherwise.
    • SUNSHINE  •  Joliet, United States  •  7 mths ago
      The man has passed... let it be
    • A Yahoo! User  •  7 mths ago
      He hating what his father had done, his father he became. He realized this much too late, yet did not realize enough.
    • Illya Nickovetch Kuryakin  •  7 mths ago
      He died give it a rest and let it go. He was what he was nothing more nothing less.
    • Tyrone F  •  7 mths ago
      As D.L. Hughley once said, abandoning a child can turn out to be like throwing away a winning lottery ticket
    • Beverly  •  Westby, United States  •  7 mths ago
      The man is dead give it a rest. Boy I hate this pop up.Yahoo please get rid of it.
    • CORavensFan  •  7 mths ago
      This man kept his private life private while he was alive - why publish all of this now that he's dead and can't defend himself? The media are sharks and cowards.
    • reefers the clown  •  Gainesville, United States  •  7 mths ago
      and on second thought, steve did the same thing to his first daughter. also very sad for her to be denied your whole life
    • spectator  •  7 mths ago
      That he was a technology genius is beyond debate, but like you R, I had a problem with how he dealt with some personal things for eg. the circumstances of his first child.
    • R  •  7 mths ago
      I saw last nights 60 minutes. Couldn't believe what he did to his oldest friend, the one that was with him college and they even went to India together.
      Turns out that the late great Steve Jobs, was indeed an A hole in his personal life!
    • Brix  •  7 mths ago
      Any Idiot can produce a child. It takes a real man to be a father.
    • Dude  •  7 mths ago
      I feel as if this man had very few moments of happiness...
    • SHANNONS  •  7 mths ago
      He denied is daughter until it was proven that he could father children even though he had submitted false documents to the court that he was sterile just to get out of paying child support!!!! Dont make this guy a saint or say he did that because he was scared of what kind of father he was going to be, afterall he didnt have a problem fathering 2 sons w/ his wife and raising them from the beginning. The only reason the daughter got to go to Harvard is because he was so far behind on child support after fighting paternity for so long that he had to pay!!!!
    [ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['Titanic', 7]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/titanic-anniversary/', ' ', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/b/4e/b4e5ad9f00b5dfeeec2226d53e173569.jpeg', '550', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]
    [ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

    About The Lookout

    The Lookout is the Yahoo! News national affairs blog focusing on America’s most important and interesting stories.

    Subscribe

    [X]

    How to subscribe

    Roll over each section to subscribe using Add to My Yahoo! or RSS Feed feeds.

    Yahoo! News offers dozens of RSS feeds you can read in My Yahoo! or using third-party RSS news reader software. Click here to find out more about RSS and how you can use it with Yahoo! News.

    Meet The Lookout Team

    The Upshot Network

    Edited by Dylan Stableford
    Edited by Eric Pfeiffer
    Edited by Olivier Knox
    Add your ideas and help make it happen. Join the conversation.
    Should Bill and Donna take on more risk to boost their business?
    How Josh's comment on a Remake America video laid the groundwork for something bigger.