Katie Cotton, who was Apple’s Vice President of worldwide communications for 18 years till she retired from the corporate in Might 2014, died on April 6. Her obituary states that she handed peacefully “surrounded by household and shut pals.” Born in 1965, she was 57 or 58.
Cotten was well-known as one of many leaders in public relations and advertising, becoming a member of Apple in 1996, shortly after the return of Jobs. She was instrumental in shaping Apple’s communications technique and the tradition of secrecy within the firm. Cotton was identified for her fierce management of how Apple was portrayed by the press and was additionally the gatekeeper who managed entry to Apple’s late CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs.
“We’re deeply saddened by Katie’s passing,” Apple stated in an announcement to Bloomberg. “She was a unprecedented individual and he or she made numerous contributions over the course of her two-decade profession at Apple. Our ideas are together with her family members and everybody who had the chance to work together with her.” Apple’s present vice chairman of worldwide communications is Kristin Huguet Quayle, who has been with the corporate since 2005.
As Macworld contributor Christopher Breen wrote on her retirement again in 2014, Cotton and Apple “largely turned public relations on its head,” with a technique that noticed the corporate “current merchandise and bulletins as particular occasions—which the world at massive (and journalists particularly) then clamor to be taught extra about.”
Since her retirement, which was to permit her to spend extra time together with her household, Cotton had been elevating consciousness for psychological well being training for youngsters by volunteering in local people organizations. She is survived by her kids, Ethan and Isabelle Mimeles, and life companion Jim Wells.
