UPDATED: 05 APR 2023 04:01 PM EST
Bob Lee, founder of Cash App and the former chief technology officer of Square, died Tuesday in San Francisco.
TheSan Francisco Chronicle and other outlets reported that the 43-year-old Lee died after being fatally stabbed early Tuesday morning, citing unidentified people and the police.
MobileCoin, a cryptocurrency and digital payments startup where Lee had been serving as chief product officer since 2021,issued a statement confirming Lee’s death without giving a cause.
“Our dear friend and colleague, Bob Lee passed away yesterday at the age of 43, survived by a loving family and collection of close friends and collaborators,” said Josh Goldbard, CEO of MobileCoin. “Bob was a dynamo, a force of nature. Bob was the genuine article.”
The news of Lee’s death sparked an outpouring of memorials on social media, as well as posts lamenting crime in San Francisco.
“Bob was a dad, the former CTO of Square where he created Cash App & CTO of Mobile Coin,” Bill Barhydt, CEO of the cryptocurrency app Abra, said in a post on Twitter. “He was a generous decent human being who didn’t deserve to be killed,”
Garry Tan, the president and CEO of the startup accelerator Y Combinator, posted: “Bob Lee’s death is a tragedy and huge loss for the tech community and for San Francisco. We must remember his life and works.”
Goldbard said on Twitter: “As a lifelong Bay Area resident I have more questions than answers tonight. I don’t know how to fix what’s wrong, but I know something isn’t working in our grey city.”
As of Wednesday afternoon no arrests had been made in connection with the death, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkinssaid on Twitter.
“I want to extend my sincerest condolences to Mr. Lee’s family members & loved ones for his loss,” Jenkins wrote. “We do not tolerate these horrific acts of violence in San Francisco.”
The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The department said in aTuesday-evening statement that officers had responded earlier that morning to a report of a stabbing and found a 43-year-old male victim, who was taken to a hospital and died of his injuries there. The report did not identify the victim and said that no arrests had been made in the case.
