Widow of Steve Jobs Shows Strong Interest in Giving

While Steve Jobs’s lack of public philanthropy fueled debates in the nonprofit and business worlds, his wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, has been building a profile in groups that seek to improve the schools and other causes, writes The Wall Street Journal.

The former Apple chairman’s death last week has shifted the focus on his fortune to Ms. Powell Jobs, who co-founded the academic charity College Track in the 1990s and serves on the boards of the NewSchools Venture Fund, Teach for America, and other education groups, says the newspaper.

Ms. Powell Jobs is also active in women’s issues and recently established a broader philanthropic and social-entrepreneurship organization called the Emerson Collective.

“She is very much of the school of ‘to whom much is given, much is expected.’ She is focused on ways to expand opportunity,” said Carlos Watson, who started College Track with Ms. Powell Jobs in the 1990s.

The Jobs family has donated to College Track and given millions of dollars to the NewSchools fund, according to The Journal.

Ms. Powell Jobs declined to be interview for the article.