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CNN
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Bob Lee, former Square CTO who helped launch the Cash App, has died after an apparent knife attack in San Francisco.
Lee’s death was confirmed by Josh Goldbard, CEO of his current employer MobileCoin. Li joined MobileCoin, a cryptocurrency and digital payments startup, in 2021 as Chief Product Officer.
“Our dear friend and colleague Bob Lee passed away yesterday at the age of 43, survived by a loving family and gathering of close friends and staff,” Goldbard said in a statement to CNN Wednesday morning. “Bob was a dynamo, a force of nature. Bob was a genuine article. He was made for the world that is being born right now, he was a dream child, and everything he imagined, no matter how crazy it was, he brought to life.
Goldbard continued: “We will miss you, Bob. We love you.”
Rick Lee, Bob’s father, also confirmed the news in a Facebook statement, writing, “I just lost my best friend.” The father said his son “died on the street in San Francisco early Tuesday morning.”
“Bob would give you the shirt off his back,” the father wrote. “He never looked down on anyone and held a strict philosophy without judgment.”
Rick Lee added that his son “will be missed by all who knew him” and thanked those who reached out and offered support.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed also reacted to the news in a statement on Wednesday, calling Lee’s death “a terrible tragedy.” Breed said police are still investigating Lee’s death and will share more details soon.
According to an earlier statement from the San Francisco Police Department, officers responded to reports of stab wounds early Tuesday morning in the Rincon area of San Francisco, where they found “a 43-year-old adult male with obvious stab wounds.”
“The police helped and called paramedics to the scene. The victim was taken to a local hospital with injuries incompatible with life. Despite the efforts of rescuers and medical personnel, the victim died from his injuries, ”the police said in a statement.
Several local news outlets, citing unnamed police sources, reported that Li was the victim of stab wounds. Police said no arrests had been made and that the investigation was ongoing.
San Francisco is struggling with an apparent rise in crime as it still struggles to recover from the pandemic. Preliminary police data reports 12 homicides in San Francisco this year, up 20% from the same period the previous year. In total, there were 56 murders in San Francisco in 2022, the same number as in 2021.
Although Goldbard did not disclose the circumstances of Lee’s death in his statement, he wrote in a separate Twitter thread reacting to the news: “As a lifelong Bay Area resident, I have more questions than answers today.”
“I don’t know how to fix what is wrong, but I know that something is not working in our gray city. Bob left this world too soon,” Goldbard tweeted.
Many others in the tech world and beyond have reacted to the news of Lee’s death with an outpouring of shock and grief.
“Hard to believe he’s gone,” Figma CEO Dylan Field wrote in tweetremembering how he first met Lee in 2006.
Tech investor Ryan Gilbert of Launchpad Capital tweeted that Lee “was one of a kind”, adding, “May his memory be a blessing.”
And mixed martial artist Jake Shields remembered Lee as a “true friend” in tweetwriting, “Rest in peace, brother.”
Shields’ tweet caught the attention of new Twitter owner Elon Musk. who stepped in to say that, “Violent crime in San Francisco is horrendous, and even if the attackers are caught, they are often released immediately.” Musk noted in his tweet San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.
Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square (now called Block), responded to the news in a post early Wednesday on decentralized social media app Nostr. “Heartbreaking,” Dorsey wrote. “Bob has been instrumental in Square and Cash App.”
Lee was Square’s first CTO. Prior to joining Square, Lee worked at Google, where he helped lead the Android team.