Katie Cotton, a longtime Apple Inc. communications chief who served as a steward for the company’s iconic brand during the Steve Jobs era and beyond, has died.

“We’re deeply saddened by Katie’s passing,” Apple said in a statement Monday. “She was an extraordinary person and she made countless contributions over the course of her two-decade career at Apple. Our thoughts are with her loved ones and everyone who had the opportunity to work with her.”

Cotton was named Apple’s vice president of communications in 1996 and stayed in that role until her retirement in 2014, crafting the company’s media strategy and helping orchestrate its groundbreaking launch events. She worked behind the scenes as a champion of Apple’s brand and famously protected Jobs through his health decline.

Cotton left the company about two years into the tenure of Tim Cook, Jobs’s successor as chief executive officer. Her time at the company coincided with one of the most remarkable comebacks in tech history, with Apple rebounding from near-insolvency to become the most valuable business in the world. In an online obituary, her family said she “passed peacefully” on April 6 and that she is “recognized as one of the most remarkable women in public relations and marketing in technology.”

 

Source: Mark Gurman