Bay Area

Tech Founder Killed in Stabbing Early Tuesday

The founder of a widely used money transfer application was stabbed to death in San Francisco early Tuesday morning. Bob Lee, 43, was identified by friends and co-workers on social media as the victim of the 2:35 a.m. stabbing, which occurred in the 300 block of Main Street. Lee was known for creating Cash App, which is a way to send and receive money via smartphone.

Published

4 years ago

April 8, 2023

Oakland Post

Bob Lee, the chief product officer at MobileCoin, died in a fatal stabbing in San Francisco this week. Photo: MobileCoin

By Bay City News

The founder of a widely used money transfer application was stabbed to death in San Francisco early Tuesday morning.

Bob Lee, 43, was identified by friends and co-workers on social media as the victim of the 2:35 a.m. stabbing, which occurred in the 300 block of Main Street.

Lee was known for creating Cash App, which is a way to send and receive money via smartphone.

The tech community and others in San Francisco and beyond reacted online at the sudden news. No arrest has been made in the case as of Wednesday morning.

Lee’s LinkedIn profile describes him as a “startup advisor and angel investor,” the creator of Cash App, former chief technology officer at the payment platform Square and the current chief product officer at MobileCoin, a crypto wallet app.

Joshua Goldbard, founder of MobileCoin, wrote a long tribute to his friend and colleague on social media.

“Bob was so much more than a technologist. Bob was an artist. Everywhere he went Bob breathed love into this world. He had so much deep heartfelt love,” Goldbard wrote. “Bob’s energy was infectious. He made friends everywhere he went. One of the things that made him truly special was his capacity to dream big and to summon those big crazy dreams into our world.”

Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who represents the neighborhood where the fatal stabbing happened, said, “This is a senseless tragedy that I know is made worse by the fact that no suspect is yet in custody.”

He added, “I’ve also heard from many constituents in the area — some of whom have already voiced concerns to me about public safety challenges — and I’m asking everyone to cooperate with police in their investigation, especially those with access to surveillance video that may help.”

District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said, “I want to extend my sincerest condolences to Mr. Lee’s family members & loved ones for his loss. We do not tolerate these horrific acts of violence in San Francisco.”

Anyone with information about the fatal stabbing is asked to call the San Francisco police tip line at (415) 575-4444 or to send a tip by text message to TIP411 with “SFPD” at the start of the message.