Jerry Manock

Jerry Manock studied mechanical engineering at Stanford University, earning a bachelor's degree in 1966 and a master's in product design in 1968. His master's project was a device to help with the treatment of children with cystic fibrosis. He began consulting for Apple in 1977, and in 1979 he joined the company as manager of product design.

He is widely regarded as the founding head of Apple's industrial design group. His best known early work was the case of the Apple II, a molded plastic enclosure that made the computer look like a finished appliance rather than a hobbyist board, and the layout of the Apple III. Manock also led the design of the upright, compact housing of the original Macintosh and was a member of the Macintosh team, where he argued for using icons on the machine's controls rather than English words.

He left Apple in 1984 and is a named inventor on several design and utility patents filed between 1983 and 2001. His Macintosh work has appeared in the Museum of Modern Art's design exhibition Pirouette: Turning Points in Design. Manock is the president and principal designer of Manock Comprehensive Design, a product design firm he founded in 1976, and he has also lectured on product design at the University of Vermont.