Bill Atkinson, architect of the Mac’s graphical soul, dies at 74

On Thursday, pioneering computer engineer and Apple veteran William "Bill" Atkinson died of pancreatic cancer at his home in Portola Valley, California, surrounded by family. He was 74. "We regret to write that our beloved husband, father, and stepfather Bill Atkinson passed away," his family wrote on Facebook. "He was a remarkable person, and the world will be forever different because he lived in it."

As Apple employee number 51, Atkinson transformed abstract computer science into intuitive...