According to records made public on Monday, Apple Inc. co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO), died of a respiratory arrest that was caused by a pancreatic tumor. Jobs' died at approximately 3 p.m., at his residence in Palo Alto, Calif., at the age of 56. He had been suffering, for some time prior to his death, from a rare and aggressive form of pancreatic cancer.

This is the first time that details regarding Jobs' cause of death have been made public.

The certificate was issued by the Santa Clara County Public Health Department in San Jose listed respiratory arrest as the immediate cause of death and metastatic pancreas neuroendocrine tumor as a contributing factor.

Jobs was first diagnosed with a tumor in 2003 and took three leaves of absence, from his position at Apple Inc., to seek medical, surgical and alternative treatment options.

In a statement released on January 5, 2009, Jobs said that he had been suffering, for several months, from hormone imbalance. He had a liver transplant in April, 2009 at the Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in Memphis, Tennessee. Following the worsening of his condition, Jobs resigned from Apple on August 24, 2011. He passed away on Oct.5, 2011, surrounded by his family.

Jobs was buried on Oct.7, at a non-denominational cemetery in Santa Clara County, in a small and private funeral.

Apple is planning to honor its founder and visionary leader at a special event to be held on Oct. 19, according to a memo sent by CEO Tim Cook, to all staff. The event is expected to be held in Apple's Cupertino campus.

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