The Wall Street Journal has a new profile this week on Apple’s Board of Directors, which includes a few salacious tidbits -- including one from a recently deceased member of the board.

AppleInsider has the details on The Wall Street Journal report, which profiles Apple’s Board of Directors following the death of member Jerome B. (Jerry) York last week at age 71 after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. The report notes that the loss of York “has left the company with fewer independent voices, putting it in conflict with its own board’s rules and renewing concerns about the board’s ability to oversee strong-willed Chairman and Chief Executive Steve Jobs.”

York, an Apple board member since 1997, went on record with the paper last year, allegedly disclosing that he was bothered by how Steve Jobs handled his illness, and “the CEO’s lack of public disclosure on the matter.” As noted by AppleInsider, the report doesn’t say if the comments were off the record or not, but “the fact that they were not published until he passed away would suggest” that was the case.

“In an interview with The Wall Street Journal last year, Mr. York said he almost resigned when told of the seriousness of Mr. Jobs's illness," the report reads. "Mr. York felt Mr. Jobs should have publicly disclosed his health problem three weeks earlier in a news release that announced his decision not to appear at the Macworld trade conference.

"Mr. York said the concealment 'disgusted' him, adding that the only reason he didn't quit at the time was because he wanted to avoid the uproar that would have occurred once he disclosed his reason. 'Frankly, I wish I had resigned then,’” he said.

CEO Steve Jobs has gone on record as insisting that his health is a “private matter,” but in January, 2009 he took a leave of absence from Apple due to health-related issues. He returned to work that June after receiving a liver transplant. AppleInsider notes that, with “Jobs at the helm, his company’s board now has just six members -- among the smallest of any Fortune 500 company.”

In August of last year, Apple lost another board member with the departure of Google’s Eric Schmidt, who resigned from the board when it became apparent that the two companies were entering each other’s core businesses. Since then, no attempt has been made to fill his board seat.

The Journal notes that Jobs has kept “tight control and directors have rarely challenged him,” revealing that members of the board are handpicked by Jobs and loyal to him. Investors, however, have “long urged Apple’s directors to be more independent of the company’s powerful CEO.”

(Image courtesy of Reuters)