Lee, 43, labored at Google earlier than serving as chief expertise officer of Square, the corporate now often called Block, which developed the cost switch app Cash App. He additionally invested in a number of tech firms together with SpaceX, Clubhouse and Figma, in line with his LinkedIn profile.
Several information reviews, in addition to posts by two of Lee’s relations, linked Lee’s demise to a stabbing within the 300 block of Main Street in Rincon Hill, close to downtown. Officers discovered a 43-year-old stabbing sufferer early Tuesday morning, in line with San Francisco police. He was transported to a hospital however died of his accidents.
The division stated it’s nonetheless investigating the incident, which is being handled as a murder. San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins tweeted her condolences to Lee’s household.
“We do not tolerate these horrific acts of violence in San Francisco,” she wrote Wednesday afternoon, including that no arrest had been made but.
Lee’s father and brother posted on Facebook, linking to an article about his demise.
“I just lost my best friend, my son Bob Lee when he lost his life on the street in San Francisco early Tuesday Morning,” his father, Rick Lee, posted. “Bobby worked harder than anyone and was the smartest person I have ever known. He will be missed by all those that knew him.”
Lee’s brother, Tim Oliver Lee, stated he was “saddened and disheartened.”
“He really was the best of us,” he wrote on Facebook. “I was so fortunate to grow up with him, and I feel like I’ve lost part of myself.”
Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Block, posted on-line Wednesday in response to an article about Lee’s demise. “It’s real. Getting calls,” he wrote. “Heartbreaking. Bob was instrumental to Square and Cash App.”
Cash App has develop into some of the in style cell cost apps, enabling folks to immediately ship one another cash. Lee was a technologist who believed in “the right to privacy,” Goldbard tweeted.
Memorials poured in on social media, together with from former UFC fighter Jake Shields and Abra Global CEO Bill Barhydt, who praised Lee as a “generous decent human.” Several posters decried violence within the metropolis. Goldbard, noting that he’s a lifelong resident of the Bay Area, stated in a Twitter put up that he has “more questions than answers tonight.”
“I don’t know how to fix what’s wrong, but I know something isn’t working,” he wrote of San Francisco.
Garry Tan, CEO of the distinguished start-up accelerator Y Combinator, referred to as Lee’s demise a “huge loss for the tech community.”
“We know so little about the circumstances and it’s too early to speculate what happened yet,” Tan tweeted. “That area is filled with cameras so we will find out soon.”
According to crime information, there have been 12 homicides in San Francisco up to now this 12 months, not together with Lee. That compares with 10 this time final 12 months.
Lee glided by “crazybob” on Twitter, a nickname he acquired from water polo, Goldbard wrote in his assertion. Lee had related with MobileCoin as an investor and adviser earlier than becoming a member of the corporate as an govt.
“Here’s to the crazy ones,” Goldbard wrote. “We will miss you Bob. We love you.”