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  - born in Alabama
 
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  - He graduated from Robertsdale High School
- He was the second in his class
 
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  - He received a Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Engineering
 
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  - He graduated from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business
- He received a Master of Business Administration Degree
- He warned the title of Fuqua Scholar, an honor given only to students at the the business school who graduate in the top 10 percent of their class
 
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  - Following a career at IBM, Cook became a chief operating officer (Reseller Division) at Intelligent Electronics
 
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  - Cook was the Vice President of Corporate Materials
 
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  - After working at Compaq for only 6 months, Cook began working for Apple
- As the corporation's chief operating officer, Cook was responsible for managing all sales and operations worldwide, including sales activities, and service and support. He was also a leader of the company's Macintosh division and in developing reseller/supplier relationship strategies
 
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  - Cook is named Apple's new CEO
- In addition to serving as CEO, Cook sits on the corporation's board of directors
 
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  - In 2011, Cook reportedly made $378 million in total compensation
 
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  - Apple announced its biggest acquisition to date when it bought Beats Music and Beats Electronics for $3 billion
 
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  - Cook unveiled the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
 
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  - In October 2014, Cook confirmed in an opinion piece he wrote for Bloomberg Businessweek that he is gay
- “While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven’t publicly acknowledged it either, until now,” he wrote
 
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  - Cook announced the latest version of the Apple operating system for desktop and mobile, OSX Yosemite
 
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  - Cook was named one of Forbes magazine's "World's Most Powerful People
 
