Its a very sad day in the tech and auto community.  Apple Board member and Chrysler CFO Jerry York has passed away according to a brief statement by Apple.  He was hospitalized after suffering from a burst brain aneurysm yesterday morning.  He died shortly after.

York was the chairman, President, and CEO of Harwinton Capital.  He was also the former CFO of IBM and Chrysler.  And he joined the Apple Board of Directors in 1997.

York was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1938 and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy.  He also received an M.S. from MIT and an MBA from the University of Michigan. “It’s been a privilege to know and work with Jerry, and I’m going to miss him a lot,” stated Apple CEO Steve Jobs. [PRNewsWire]

On August 3, Eric Schmidt stepped down from the Apple Inc. Board of Directors due to conflicts of interest. This Tuesday Apple’s Board of Directors will be meeting to discuss some of the possible replacements of Schmidt.  Schmidt had been an Apple Board member for about 3 years.

Some of the other board members include Intuit Chairman Bill Campbell, Avon Products CEO Andrea Jung, former Vice President of the United States Al Gore, Chrysler finance chief Jerome York, J. Crew CEO Millard Drexler, and Genentech Chairman Arthur Levinson.

It would not surprise me if Apple appoints someone highly involved in the Internet application or cloud computing space considering that Schmidt’s company is one of the best in that sector.