Nobody knew the extent of Steve Jobs' philanthropic works until he was gone.

At the height of his reign as Apple's CEO, he often bore the brunt of criticisms for apparently falling short in humanitarian involvement unlike the other entrepreneurs of his stature.

Until recently, when that side of his benevolent heart was exposed through his equally private widow, Laurene Powell Jobs.

Powell Jobs has for the first time spoken about the late Apple founder's substantial contributions to charity. She spoke of their preferred way of doing philanthropic work as well.

In her interview with the New York Times, she said "We're really careful about amplifying the great work of others in every way that we can, and we don't like attaching our names to things."

Steve Jobs' widow is the founder and chair of Emerson Collective. It is an organization patterned after a small business model to allow anonymous contributions to various projects such as grants and political campaigns.

In 1997, she also co-founded College Track, a college preparatory organization that she and her late husband had been actively supporting.

Each year, Pixar hosts a select film screening to raise funds for College Track. Pixar is the award-winning animation company that Mr. Jobs also helped establish.

"I've always appreciated that being the wife of Steve Jobs, she could have played that as much as possible, but she doesn't," said College Track's Marshall Lott.

Recently also, reports of Mr. Jobs' $50 million donation from his own pocket surfaced. This donation apparently went to several hospitals in California and was used to fund research on HIV and AIDS.

In an opinion piece he wrote, U2 lead singer and known humanitarian Bono attested that Mr. Jobs indeed donated millions of dollars in the battle against AIDS in Africa. The musician's (Product)RED charity has been for years supported by Apple, as well as the Global Fund to Fight Aids.

Bono, who shared a good friendship with Mr. Jobs, said that the tech genius' contributions had been "invaluable," Apple Insider reported.

Before his death, Mr. Jobs figured in a heated controversy in 2011 due to the New York Times' published article which questioned the absence of record on the tech giant's charitable donations.

In response, Mr. Jobs' successor Tim Cook announced last year that his late boss donated $50 million to Stanford hospitals to fund the construction of a children's medical center and a new main building.

One thing for sure, Mr. Jobs continues to be an enigma even after his death.

His intensely private character and attitude is what sets him apart from other multi billionaires who don't mind publicly discussing their socio-civic involvements.

He preferred to keep things discreetly and declined talking about his philanthropic works even to his biographer Walter Isaacson.