Jeff Raskin known as the founder of the Mac has sadly passed away this week. Many bloggers have commented on his death and have in effect created an internet memorial honoring Jeff’s genius.

Here are just a few of the notable clips from bloggers:

My Personal Getaway:
This is the most emotional entry on this website I have ever done. Inventor, vissionary and genius Jef Raskin passed away on Saturday. He died of cancer at the age of 61. Jef Raskin was on the original Macintosh team and was of the first 50 employees of the company. He was behind every aspect of the Mac’s GUI interface and set the blueprints for how we use the Mac today, even the one button mouse. My condolences to his family and friends. I had the utmost privilage of meeting him a few times. We exchanged emails and I looked to him for career advice. I respect his achievements in the personal and professional life. God bless you Mr. Raskin.

Sincerely,
Adam Jackson

SFist:
“The dean of Macintosh design, Jef Raskin, succumbed to pancreatic cancer on Saturday in his home of Pacifica. A true visionary, he helped bring computing to the masses by thinking of new and better ways of bridging the gap between the machine and the user. His latest project, ‘Archy,’ is due to be released shortly. SFist mourns his passing.”

The BinnsBlog:
“Perhaps a rather geeky thing to have a “nuts” moment about, but still. If it weren’t for him and those he worked with, we’d be without many of the coolest pieces of kit that grace the tech market shelves, none of which I own, as it happens.”

InfoWorld blog:
“Raskin, who died Saturday at age 61, was a leader of Apple during the crucial days of its development. Friction between Raskin and Jobs led to Raskin’s departure in the early 1980s, his son, Aza Raskin, said Monday.

“He (Jef Raskin) started the Macintosh project,” Aza Raskin said of his father. “It was canceled (but restarted by Raskin) three different times.”

With a rivalry with Jobs creating tension on the project, “Jeff decided that rather than play political games, he would move on and ‘do it right,’ as he said,” Aza Raskin recalled.

“Steve Jobs and Jeff came close to reconciling toward the end,” Aza Raskin added. “When the millionth Mac was made, Jobs gave it to him with his name engraved.””

Lunar Obverse:
“Jef Raskin, interface super genius and the man most responsible for the original Macintosh (yes, even more than Steve Jobs), has passed away of pancreatic cancer.

Another intellectual hero of mine is gone. The world will be the poorer for it.”

MrPower2:
“I have only ever used Apple Macs and that’s the way I intend to keep it. But everyone who uses a computer owes a debt to this man and, as his work lives on through his son, I am certain that future generations of computer users will be indebted to his work on improving the computer/human interface.”

Mini Ture_MacJournal:
“I remember meeting Jef where I was demonstrating graphics CAD on a Macintosh. I could not understand why Jef was against the GUI and he said to me that it was inefficient and not the way humans worked. He was a professor of Art also and yet did not see in pictures the sense of organization, but was a brilliant abstract mathematician and inventor. He kinda started off on the wrong foot with me and that was that, but I recognized he was a brilliant individualist and inventive American technologist.

It is a shame I never came to know him better and I am sure we would have been like one hand clapping but with opposing viewpoints.

He was to simplify, lists, abstraction, etc., and was impressive in the functional artistic interpretations yet we were two poles apart. I guess the friend of mine, the gentleman who introduced us was expecting an interesting discussion and some creative outcome but was disappointed when the meeting ended in a gruff parting of the ways. My feelings go out to his family and his special talents will be greatly missed for an era has ended namely1984 to 2004.”

Thanks bloggers. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

webproworld is the CEO of Murdok, Inc. which publishes over 200 websites and email newsletters.

Rich also publishes his blog WebProBlog which focuses on internet business and marketing trends.