From Apple to pumpkin — Stanford student carves Steve Jobs tribute

Since the Oct. 5 death of Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, admirers the world over have memorialized him on posters and post-it notes, with flowers and apples. But Stanford medical student Raymond Tsai had a different tribute in mind.

Tsai has been carving intricate pumpkins since 2006 and decided to pay tribute to Jobs with this year’s jack-o-lantern creation. He has only tried carving a person’s likeness one other time, in 2009, after Michael Jackson died.

“I usually only carve people that I am inspired by or touched by,” Tsai said. “Steve Jobs, I think, is just an inspirational person for a variety of reasons. I’m not sure how to put it into words yet… but he’s like the epitome of resilience in terms of overcoming barriers to succeed. He was so talented and such a visionary and was able to change an entire industry.”

Tsai estimates that he spent five and a half hours creating his pumpkin masterpiece: two hours mapping the cuts and three and a half hours actually carving.

“It is just amazing, and such an inspiration, to be so good at something, and to love something so much that you persevere no matter what anyone else says about your work,” Tsai said of Jobs.

“As someone who is still trying to figure out what to do in my own life, [Jobs] is a great role model in terms of finding what you love to do, what you’re passionate about, and excelling at that so much so, that you make a really impact on society.”