Steve Jobs named 'Most Fascinating'

NEW YORK, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. broadcast journalist Barbara Walters has declared the late Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs the Most Fascinating Person of 2011.

Jobs died in October after an eight-year battle with cancer. He was 56.

"All his life, Steve Jobs could see things other people couldn't see," Walters said in the TV special, "The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2011," which aired on ABC Wednesday night.

"He embodied qualities you rarely see in one person," Walters noted. "It's hard to imagine there ever being anyone quite like him again. He was a computer geek and a visionary, a romantic and a businessman, a Buddhist and a marketing genius. He was the smartest person in the room since childhood. He always thought he was right and he almost always was."

Walters' list of the year's most fascinating people also included Pippa Middleton, the new sister-in-law of Britain's Prince William; professional baseball player Derek Jeter; pop star Katy Perry; reality TV staple, the Kardashian family; television personality Simon Cowell; "Modern Family" co-stars Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet; and American business tycoon/author/television personality Donald Trump.