Apple CEO Tim Cook’s Alabama Roots Profiled

He started out by delivering newspapers, later worked at a restaurant, then at a drugstore with his mom, and now runs the world’s most influential tech company. Yes, he is Tim Cook, now the CEO of Apple.

The details were shared by Alabama news site AL.com (via MacRumors) and tell the story of the man who now opens Apple’s events. His family moved to Robertsdale when he was 11 years old, back in 1971. His parents made the decision to leave behind both Pensacola and Mobile to have their children attend the same school, according to Tim Cook’s mother.

Tim Cook

Cook attended the local school, and his teachers remember even today the friendly, diligent teenager with a “studious nature.” He joined the Robertsdale High School yearbook committee and became the staff’s business manager in his senior year.

“You didn’t go around calling him a nerd,” said Barbara Davis, who taught Cook math. “He was just the kind of person you liked to be around.” She added, “He was a reliable kid. He was always meticulous with his work, so I knew it would be done right.”

Cook  Teresa

According to the grading sheets, Cook was his class’s salutatorian, as the only student smarter than him was Teresa Prochaska Hunstman (see image), who became the class valedictorian.

Choosing a college was pretty obvious: He went to Auburn University to study industrial engineering. After college, he joined IBM and then spent a few years at Intelligent Electronics. Before joining Apple, Cook was working at Compaq. But the call from Steve Jobs came, and that call was about to change his life.

As the story highlights, Tim Cook goes back to his roots each year, with his last visit being this past Christmas. That same month, he received Auburn’s International Quality of Life Award. Robertsdale now celebrates “Timothy D. Cook Day” on December 10 every year.

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