Bob Lee, the creator of Cash App and former CTO at Jack Dorsey’s Square, now Block, was stabbed to death in San Francisco on Tuesday morning.
Lee’s death was reported by NBC Bay Area and TechCrunch and later confirmed by Dorsey in a post on his social network, nostr. The tech executive’s passing was also confirmed by Joshua Goldbard, the CEO of MobileCoin, where Lee was currently working as the chief product officer.
“Bob was a force of nature. Helped to birth Android and CashApp into our world,” Goldberg said in a statement to local outlet ABC 7. “Moby was his dream: a privacy protecting wallet for the 21st Century. I will miss him every day.”
According to a statement from the San Francisco Police Department, the incident that took Lee’s life occurred at around 2:35 a.m. on the 300 block of Main Street, where they found a 43-year-old adult male victim “suffering from apparent stab wounds,” which were described by police as life-threatening injuries.
Police stated that despite efforts by first responders and medical personnel, Lee died from his injuries.
Over on nostr, users expressed shock that the news was real.
“It’s real,” Dorsey said. “Getting calls. Heartbreaking. Bob was instrumental to Square and Cash App. STL guy.”
According to TechCrunch, Lee joined Block after spending a few years at Google working on Android. At Block, Lee focused on developing the Android app and helped create Block.
Lee’s death is being investigated by the San Francisco Police Department’s homicide unit. No arrests have been made and the investigation is active, the police said in its statement.
“Gizmodo reached out to MobileCoin on Wednesday morning for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
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