Avie Tevanian, Apple’s Chief Software Technology Officer and the man credited with building the core of Mac OS X is leaving the company, Apple confirmed on Tuesday. Tevanian’s last day at Apple will be March 31, 2006.
Tevanian joined Apple in 1997 as senior vice president of software engineering. Prior to his position at Apple, Tevanian was vice president of engineering at NeXT — the computer company that Apple CEO Steve Jobs founded between stints running Apple.
Tevanian started his career at Carnegie Mellon University, where he was the principal designer and engineer of the Mach Kernel, which served as the basis for NEXTSTEP, leading ultimately to the development of Mac OS X.
Apple said Tevanian “is leaving the company to pursue other interests” and “plans to take some time off in the interim. We thank him for his many accomplishments.”