The Family Tree of Steve Jobs


steve jobs family

When a person with as big an impact on the world as Steve Jobs dies, you can’t help wondering about the legacy he left behind. Obituaries always tell you that the deceased is “survived by” his or her loved ones. So just who are the people Steve Jobs left behind?

Steve Jobs’ birth parents

Steven Paul Jobs was born February 24, 1955 to Joanne Carol Schieble, an unwed mother who gave him up for adoption, being unable to care for him alone. His biological father was Abdul Fattah Jandali, a Syrian national who was in America to attend college. It was during this time that the two met, and wanted to get married, but Schieble’s conservative father would not allow it.

Paul and Clara Jobs, Steve’s adopted parents, are both deceased. Paul Jobs, a Coast Guard veteran, worked as a machinist for a company that manufactured lasers, and is largely responsible for his son’s interest in electronics and working with his hands. Clara Jobs was an accountant. She died in 1986, and Paul seven years later, in 1993.

John Jandali

Today, Abdul Fattah Jandali is Vice President and General Manager of the Boomtown Casino and Hotel in Reno, Nevada, where he uses the American first name “John.” Prior to working in Reno, he served as a political science professor at the University of Nevada. It’s interesting to note that Jobs’ biological father is a successful businessman; certainly nothing on Jobs’ billionaire level, but perhaps some of his business smarts were passed on by Jandali, who only found out that his biological son was Steve Jobs in 2005. The 80-year-old Jandali, who has been married at least three times, is even on Facebook.

Jobs’ mother Joanne Schieble Simpson, now 79, has kept a much lower profile. All that’s known about her personally is that she works as a speech pathologist. Jandali and Joanne Schieble actually got back together a year after Jobs’ birth, and eventually married, giving birth to a second child, daughter Mona, though they later divorced. Joanne remarried years later to an American named George Simpson, whose last name she took.



Mona Simpson

Mona Simpson is a novelist, essayist, and Professor of English at UCLA. She has published five novels: Anywhere But Here, The Lost Father, A Regular Guy, Off Keck Road, and My Hollywood. In a fascinating mirror of real life, all of Simpson’s novels take readers deep into the world of dysfunctional families. The Lost Father is said to be based on her own attempts to find her father, John Jandali, while A Regular Guy is believed to be loosely based on Steve Jobs and his relationship with daughter Lisa Brennan-Jobs (see below). Both Mona and her brother Steve are (were) to this day estranged from their biological father John Jandali.

Lisa Brennan-Jobs

In early adulthood, Steve Jobs was still dating his childhood sweetheart, painter Chris Anne Brennan. Brennan gave birth to Lisa Brennan in 1978, but Jobs famously denied paternity, even swearing in court that he couldn’t be her father because he was sterile. But a court-ordered DNA test determined that he was indeed Lisa’s father, and the two later forged a strong relationship in her teens, when she moved to California and lived with Steve and his wife for a time. It’s rumored that the Apple “Lisa” computer was even named for her, having been released the same year that she was born, though Apple has denied this. Later, Jobs would tell biographer Walter Isaacson “Obviously, it was named for my daughter” however. Today, Lisa Brennan-Jobs (Facebook Page) is the second familial relation to Steve Jobs to have a literary proclivity. Lisa is an accomplished journalist, regularly being published in Vogue, O The Oprah Magazine, The Harvard Advocate, The Southwest Review, The Massachusetts Review, and more. It’s unknown what level of contact she has with other members of the Jobs family, but at least one member of her biological family tree has reached out to her — publicly. Take a look at this Facebook wall post from John Jandali, Jobs’ biological father, written directly to Lisa on July 30th of this year. The relationship between Lisa and her famous father was documented in the book The Bite in the Apple, which was written by her mother in 2012.

Steve had one adoptive sister named Patti Jobs, who is three years his junior. She was married in 1975 and is believed to have taken her husband’s name, which is unknown. Her whereabouts or current status are things she has chosen to keep private.

Laurene Powell Jobs

In March of 1991, Steve Jobs married Laurene Powell Jobs, who remained his wife until his recent death. Laurene is a successful businesswoman in her own right, having co-founded natural foods company Terravera, and previously served on the board of directors of Achieva, creators of online tools for student test-taking. Currently, she is on the board of directors for a number of non-profit organizations, including Teach for America, Global Fund for Women, KQED, EdVoice, New America Foundation, Stanford Schools Corporation, and New Schools Venture Fund. She is on the advisory board for the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In 2010, President Obama appointed Laurene as a member of the White House Council for Community Solutions, which advises the President on matters of education and job creation. She also controls the Laurene Powell Jobs Trust (formerly known as the Steven P. Jobs Trust), which is said to hold around 130-140 million shares of a variety of companies, including a 7.3% stake in The Walt Disney Company, making the trust the largest shareholder of that corporation.

Reed Jobs

Steve and Laurene have three children. 23-year-old Reed Paul Jobs, and his two sisters Erin Sienna Jobs, age 19, and Eve Jobs, age 16. Since their father’s passing, the Jobs children have tried to lead a low-key lifestyle well out of the limelight. Reed attended Stanford where he majored in history and biology. Erin entered college this past fall, while Eve remains in high school. Based on their lineage, it seems that whatever the Jobs children apply themselves to in the future, they can look forward to great success.




Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a stalwart in the tech journalism community, has been chronicling the ever-evolving world of Apple products and innovations for over a decade. As a Senior Author at Apple Gazette, Kokou combines a deep passion for technology with an innate ability to translate complex tech jargon into relatable insights for everyday users.

40 Comments

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  1. Thanks so much for taking the time to put this together. Wow, a load of info that I found interesting. Steve certainly had an exciting life and was a wonderful man.

  2. Where is Patricia A Jobs (aka Patti Jobs, Steve’s sister)?
    She is only mentioned a couple times in the book; once to say Steve had a sister, and another to say that Steve did not feel close to his sister.

    1. Wish I knew! I wanted to include her in the article, but I couldn’t find out a single thing about Patti. And I searched very extensively. She appears to live an extremely private life.

    2. I worked with her in the mid seventies. Her and her son Michael ,had been friends of mine. I lost contact with them a couple of years later. Steve purchased a home for them in Cupertino around 1976 -77. Very sweet young lady.

  3. To Robin Parrish:
    Are you the author of this article? If so, and you are a journalist, you know it is not so good because one KEY element is missing: Steve Jobs’ sister Patti.
    Since the bond between brother and sister is considered by psychologists as strong as that between mother and children — not chasing Patty and not making her speak or–in case of her refusal in which I doubt–not making those close to her or Steve to convince her—IS inexcusable ! There is no excuse Isaacson did not do it. And there is no excuse you did not. As they say: “If we have no trust–we have nothing”. Omitting by the author one crucial fact makes him suspect. How am I to believe he did not omit something else of similar importance?
    And trust me: Steve’s portrait without a word what his relations with his sister were over the years and if bad–why (the type or relations which build or break people) is not a true portrait of him. It hides something which must be revealed. A good writer always deal with key personal relationships i their subjects lives and can do it gently if needed. It is possible to do it gently. To ignore brother–sister 53 years old relationship is a BIG “No”, “No”.

    1. I did not “ignore” Patti. I wanted to include her, but as I said in the article:

      Steve had one adoptive sister named Patti Jobs, who is three years his younger. She was married in 1975 and is believed to have taken her husband’s name, which is unknown. Her whereabouts or current status are things she has chosen to keep private.

      My search for Patti was exhaustive. Short of hiring a detective to track her down (something we don’t have the budget for), there’s nothing more I could have done to provide details about her. Information about Patti simply doesn’t exist.

      If Patti is (as it appears) a very private person, and Steve chose to barely acknowledge her existence… I fail to see how either of those things are my fault.

    2. Sounds very believable, but there’s no way to prove it’s really her. Not saying I doubt it, but I can’t print it as fact if it’s not verified.

      To any who follow the link above: ignore the article, it’s rubbish. Horribly written, some of the worst grammar I’ve ever seen. Skip to its comments.

    3. Patty owns their childhood home on Crist Ave in Cupertino and still lives in that city…so much for your “exhaustive” search!

    4. So, am I to understand that you condone harassing folks mercilessly who wish to live privately just to get a “good” article, Savanna? Is that what you feel makes a good journalist? So, I imagine that you felt it was true and just for the paparazzi to harass Princess Diana to the point of causing her death, because they were just doing it to get a “good” story. No harm, no foul, right? Who cares if her children had to grow up without a mother, as long as they got a “good” story, right? Or how about the invasive photographer who climbed a tree to photograph Kurt Cobain’s dead body lying on the floor just after his body was discovered? Was he or she in the right because he or she was trying to get a “good” image for the story? When a person is famous because of something a relative has done, and they just want to live a quiet and peaceful life of obscurity, it needs to be honored, not disregarded in pursuit of a “good” story. Or perhaps someone should camp out on your doorstep in case you do something interesting?

  4. Family Tree is very important: because you are 1/4 your mum, 1/4 your dad, 1/16 your maternal grand-mum, 1/16 paternal grand-mum, 1/16 maternal grand-dad, 1/16 paternal grand-dad, 1/64………DNA wise.

  5. Interesting you give Steve Jobs’ birth’ parents such large photos and credence. In his biography, he states specifically, that he never had any interest in finding his adoptive parents and that he considers his birth parents or as he refers as to them as ‘sperm and egg donors”. He also dismissed the term ‘adoptive’ to describe the parents who raised him. In his biography he firmly states that he considers his ‘adoptive’ parents they are his “real” parents .

    1. Now, I do agree with that. Birth parents are important, but I’d say the folks who gave Steve Jobs such a great springboard for his life deserves more than just a mention.

  6. I agree with Tess. Steve Jobs always considered his “adoptive parents” as his parents -not attaching “adoptive” as most journalists have done. Furthermore, it is distasteful to provide a huge photo of everyone else except those whom he considered his parents. This obvious negligence is not overlooked by the public.

  7. Steve stolen a bunch of ideas from people and took them as they were his. And he didn’t care about his children. Bill Gates was on his team but he quit and made Microsoft.

    1. Your honesty is not lost of my ears. Yes, Steve Jobs was a great creator, a genius in his own right, but he was troubled and very, very mean (according to both movies/documentaries). There is no secret that he vehemently denied his daughter’s birthright and for this there is NO EXCUSE. It is so amazing how people hail him great and ‘a good man’ solely on his business accomplishments and basically his net worth but are so willing to overlook that he was not a good person, in fact, quite mean, vindictive and downright rude.

      Sadly money and material things rule this world and this people (aka human race)

    2. It breaks my heart that your statement and the one nested above it in this thread are all unfortunately true.

      Yes he was creative and strived to see things with fresh eyes but when it comes down to it I feel like he was a world-class user of others. One of the kindest and most decent people he first took advantage of was and is Steve Wozniak. Was is the true genius behind Apple. However waws does not have that charismatic personality Which jobs was gifted with. He knew how to manipulate and use people to his advantage is extremely well. That he was charismatic there is no doubt. And he exhibited these personality traits from fairly young age. As his parents stated they drove his teachers crazy because they felt their brilliant son was not getting the education he deserved. Another sign of his ability to hold onto and manipulate individuals was his relationship from early on with his high school sweetheart. He would not let her go completely. Obviously she was in love with him and rather than walking away from him completely at a younger age she inevitably allowed herself to be available for him when he felt he needed her in his life. When they were in their early 20s (approximately 22 to 23 years old) their long-standing love, and passion for one another resulted in pregnancy ( this actually occurred fairly close to the time that he was beginning to experience wonderful changes in his financial station in life. It would’ve been no problem for him to see that his daughter and the young woman who he loved since high school were financially stable. Nothing extravagant just able to keep a decent roof over their heads pay their utility bills eat nutritious food dress warmly the basics. However this man showed a sickening side to think that he was so manipulative that he plagiarized himself in the legal setting lying and stating that he was in fertile therefore there was no possible way that Lisa could be his daughter. I’d say that’s a bit above and beyond the normal shenanigans that young man try when the female they have been making love to you for years ends up pregnant. It is so sad that many people him who were the closest to him probably continually for gave his many shortcomings not because they wanted anything from him because The most important individuals I’m referring to are those who knew him when he was a kid and a teen and not worth gazillions of dollars.
      There’s an old and very important saying for anyone who reads this who may be like a Steve Wozniak a good an understanding friend to the end who even though he ultimately finds out that his friend was shafting him financially from the beginning feels that the friendship is more important. I have a tendency to be like this as well and that’s why I’ve had this old saying repeated to me many times:

      “People will treat you the way that you allow them to treat you.”

      Nothing earth shattering it’s the simplest thing in the world but for some reason a lot of us tend to forget this fact. I want to and with this most important part: I sincerely hope that during the months that his life was at Bing away I hope he may peace with all those whom he hurt during his life. In addition I do not write this as if I am on example of a human being who has never done another person wrong the very definition of being a human entails being an organism that airs all the time the critical issue is that we make amends for our many mistakes and treat those around us with the respect and love which they deserve.
      May you rest in peace Mr. Steve Jobs
      I hope that when your time came you were able to embrace it with peace and I pray that you’re finding (whatever comes after this phase in our soul’s journey) to be a wonderful adventure. Thank you and bless you for the creative objects which you had a partial hand in sharing with humanity.

  8. Earlier i knew only about steve jobs.. and steve jobs being my idol i wanted to know all about him .. his parents,children etc..now it feels all great 🙂
    Thanks a lot . Great work 🙂

  9. I would love to meet Reed Jobs I’m doing a report on your dad’s life it would be helpful and more exciting.

    Sincerely,
    Alyssa Lopez

  10. We all know that both, Steve J. and Bill G. have achieved tremendous results in business.
    As far as invention: many of us in high technology industry, with due respect to both entrepreneurs, recognize that they were not inventors. The technoloies they applied were invented in other places… but they did adopt it strategically and timely… then persevered and achieved their goals.

    Observing these two companies for most of my career, I can say that the challenges were huge, and the game is rough…

  11. Everything you have written is great except that its Highly disrespectful to exclude images of the actual people who brought him up as parents.
    but then again it’s your aarticle but
    shame on you.
    Review and Amed bud….

  12. In my opinion Wozniak was the electronic genius and Jobs was business minded genious in generating ideas to transform the world. He used money and many people to implement his ideas and create unique and expensive products. However, this is only one facade of his successful business life .

  13. Steve Jobs was a sick man! He was broken and he deserved any ills he developed! His daughter deserved a real dad ! His other kids hopefully will not inherit his anger, hatred & nasty attitude toward everything and everyone. I would not buy any Apple product . The guy was garbage !

    1. Wow…NO ONE deserves to become ill and die young after suffering terribly from cancer. What the hell is wrong with you?

  14. Cool article, exactly what I was looking for. Did anyone find out why his parents left him? And if he made amends with them?

  15. I remember Patti well in high school, sort of my sweatheart for a while. I hung around with Steve. He was not precocious as some claim, just a regular guy spending a lot of time hunched over circuit boards. The parents were solidly blue collar, but very kind and gentle people. Home life, which I witnessed many times, was completely normal and not dysfunctional in any way. The parents were the real parents in all senses. I’m sorry Steve tried to disown his daughter, but he seems to have made up for that. Patti wants to remain anonymous, which is her right. Some of the comments above are hateful of Steve and the author of the first posting. Those comments are vulgar, very misplaced and unwarranted. Leave it alone. Steve and Patti were regular kids growing up in a regular house, nothing extraordinary but very nice people and friends. As for Wozniak, he dated my sister, was shy and a bit withdrawn, and it’s no surprise Steve ran circles around him in business. If you weren’t there to witness it firsthand then don’t comment with hateful comments. Steve did what he had to do to make the company a big success, which made a lot of people a lot of money. No crime in that or anything Steve did at Apple. Trust me, I’ve worked for worse bosses than he ever was. So have most of you who read this. Again, leave it alone.

    1. It nice to read from someone that new a bit of the family and i share in your opinion…….I love his story and wished he hadn’t died young