Bob Lee, affectionately generally known as ‘Loopy Bob,’ was a tech whizz within the software program improvement world the place he helped design Android and began Money App, earlier than he was stabbed to dying on the crime-ridden streets of San Francisco, his household confirmed.
Lee, 43, had prolonged his week-long enterprise journey within the Bay Space by simply sooner or later when he was killed on Tuesday evening. An arrest has not been made.
The tech mogul was the chief product officer of San Francisco-based cryptocurrency startup MobileCoin and had just lately moved to Miami. He has two younger daughters together with his spouse Krista.
However Lee was again within the Bay Space on enterprise and determined to remain an additional day when he was stabbed, his pals informed the San Francisco Commonplace.
Tech government and investor Bob Lee, 43, who helped create Android and Money App, was stabbed to dying in San Francisco on Tuesday evening
Lee, 43, had prolonged his week-long enterprise journey within the Bay Space by simply sooner or later when he was killed on Tuesday evening. An arrest has not been made
He was the chief product officer of San Francisco-based cryptocurrency startup MobileCoin and had just lately moved to an $1.8million residence in Miami
Whereas the information of Lee’s dying was first publicly confirmed by MobileCoin’s founder Joshua Goldbard, Lee’s father Rick Lee posted a press release on Fb Wednesday afternoon.
‘I simply misplaced my greatest pal, my son Bob Lee when he misplaced his life on the road in San Francisco early Tuesday Morning,’ Ricky Lee worte.
He went on to write down about their transfer from California to Miami final 12 months.
‘I moved to Mill Valley, CA with Bob after his mom died in 2019 and we just lately relocated to Miami in Oct 2022.
‘Life has been an journey with two bachelors dwelling collectively, and I’m so pleased that we had been in a position to develop into so shut these final years. Bob would provide the shirt off his again.
‘He would by no means look down on anybody and adhered to a strict no-judgment philosophy.
‘Bobby labored tougher than anybody and was the neatest individual I’ve ever recognized. He might be missed by all people who knew him. Thanks to those that have reached out in assist.’
Lee’s father Ricky Lee posted on Fb Wednesday afternoon confirming his dying
‘I simply misplaced my greatest pal, my son Bob Lee when he misplaced his life on the road in San Francisco early Tuesday Morning,’ Ricky Lee wrote
Earlier immediately, MobileCoin’s founder Joshua Goldbard tweeted that Lee ‘was an unimaginable human being. Saying Bob’s identify previously tense feels ridiculous,’ and described him as ‘an artist.’
Goldbard stated on Twitter that Lee ‘was like a brother to me’ and had a ‘kaleidoscopic’ thoughts.
‘Choose a subject and Bob can be proper there with you telling you the entire methods he had thought in regards to the concept already,’ Goldbard stated.
Lee’s social media posts lined a timeline of his life, from private posts together with his household to the skilled.
He was a espresso connoisseur who traveled all around the world, and attended all the massive tech occasions and festivals together with SXSW, Coachella, TechCrunch and Burning Man.
However his life got here to an finish Tuesday when he was stabbed to dying lower than a mile from the workplace the place he labored on the startup group of Sq..
The information of Lee’s dying was first publicly confirmed by MobileCoin’s founder Joshua Goldbard, who tweeted that Lee ‘was an unimaginable human being’
A pal who was planning to fulfill Lee in Miami this weekend informed The Commonplace that Lee had been in San Francisco on enterprise, had stayed an additional day and was killed on that day.
‘I am nonetheless in shock,’ the pal stated. ‘No method he did something to impress this and I really feel like he would simply hand his cash and watch to a mugger.’
Police responded to the stabbing on Most important Road round 2:35 a.m. to discover a man with stab wounds. The sufferer was rushed to the hospital the place he died.
The San Francisco Medical Examiner has not formally disclosed the sufferer’s id or different particulars of the dying. However the information of Lee’s dying was publicly confirmed by the founding father of MobileCoin, the place Lee served as chief product officer.
Lee, who additionally began Money App and was a former chief expertise officer of Sq., was well-respected within the tech world and has been closely mourned because the information of his tragic dying.
Bob, pictured together with his spouse Krista and two daughters, had determined to remain an additional day in San Francisco on a enterprise journey when he was stabbed to dying
Lee, who was an energetic investor in quite a few corporations, reminiscent of SpaceX, Clubhouse and Figma, co-wrote Bitter EJB, a guide for coders aimed toward serving to them keep away from frequent pitfalls when writing for the Enterprise Java Beans framework to develop web-based enterprise functions.
At the moment he had been dwelling in St. Louis, Missouri, and had been working as an open-source developer for 10 years.
By 2004, Lee was dwelling in San Francisco and dealing as an engineer at Google. Whereas there, he assisted with establishing the core library for the event of the Android working system.
As Lee’s tech profession skyrocketed, he continued to donate to fundraisers all through the years. In 2009, he posted to his weblog that he was going to swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco to lift funds for the American Liver Basis.
After working for Google for 5 years, he was then employed by Sq. to develop its Android app in 2010.
That very same 12 months, he wrote: ‘Sq. is the highest free finance app in Android’s market’ and ‘Android Surpasses iPhone within the U.S.’
In 2011, Lee, who additionally developed Money App, turned the corporate’s first CTO.
Lee, who was an energetic investor in quite a few corporations, reminiscent of SpaceX, Clubhouse and Figma, co-wrote Bitter EJB, a guide for coders aimed toward serving to them keep away from frequent pitfalls
Lee donated to fundraisers all through the years. In 2009, he posted to his weblog that he was going to swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco to lift funds for the American Liver Basis
Lee left Sq. in 2014 after which spent a number of years as an advisor for startups in addition to an angel investor.
In 2015, he turned the CEO of the native chat group app Current, which was offered as a method for girls to attach. They hosted a pre-rally for the 2018 Girls’s March in San Francisco.
In 2018, he described the mission of the corporate as bringing native communities nearer collectively, to make the world a happier, more healthy place, including, ‘For those who observe the information, I feel you will agree the world may use this now greater than ever.’
Lee later invested in his present firm, MobileCoin, which later obtained a $66 million enterprise backing.
The corporate is a peer-to-peer fee processing system that made it sooner and safer to commerce cryptocurrency from a cell phone.
In 2021, he took on the function of CEO and stated he hoped MobileCoin may ‘assist the lots of of hundreds of thousands of unbanked folks worldwide’ by providing democratized entry to digital money.
As information of his dying circulated on social media, tributes for the tech whizz poured in as pals and colleagues paid their respects to Lee.
Invoice Barhydt, the CEO of the digital funds agency Abra, stated on Twitter that Lee was a father and ‘beneficiant human being who did not should be killed.’
Former MMA fighter Jake Shields remembered the tech government as a ‘loyal pal’, with Musk responding to his Tweet.
Shields claimed that Lee was ‘focused’ in a ‘random mugging and assault’ regardless of being in a ‘good ‘ a part of town.
Lee, who was dubbed ‘Loopy Bob’ by pals, was an energetic investor in quite a few corporations, reminiscent of SpaceX, Clubhouse and Figma
Different pals declare that Lee was ‘focused’ in a ‘random mugging and assault’ regardless of being in a ‘good ‘ a part of town
Joshua Goldbard stated: ‘My coronary heart is damaged tonight’. He added: ‘Bob was a drive of nature. Helped to delivery Android and Money App into our world.
‘Moby was his dream: a privacy-protecting pockets for the twenty first Century. I’ll miss him day-after-day.’
Co-Founding father of Twitter Jack Dorsey stated: ‘It is actual. Getting calls. Heartbreaking. Bob was instrumental to Sq. and Money App. STL man.’
Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk additionally commented on the horrific incident, asking the San Francisco DA what she is doing to ‘incarcerate repeated violent offenders’.
He stated: ‘Very sorry to listen to that. Many individuals I do know have been severely assaulted. Violent crime in SF is horrific and even when attackers are caught, they’re typically launched instantly.
Is town taking stronger motion to incarcerate repeat violent offenders Brooke Jenkins?’
Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk additionally commented on the horrific incident, asking the San Francisco DA what she is doing to ‘incarcerate repeated violent offenders’
To this point this 12 months within the metropolis there have been 39 murders, which is up two from this time final 12 months as a rise in crime is leaving residents apprehensive.
Democrat Mayor London Breed stated in February she is requesting almost $30 million in extra funding for town’s police drive.
The San Francisco Police Division has encountered rising time beyond regulation prices for present officers because the drive is experiencing a scarcity of employees.
Between 2021 and 2022, the division noticed a 121 % improve in whole time beyond regulation, in keeping with KPIX.
SFPD officers have additionally been making focused makes an attempt to deal with crime in sure pockets within the metropolis that are vulnerable to incidents.
The San Francisco Police Division is at present experiencing a scarcity of 541 officers.
Police are urging anybody with data to return ahead by calling the SFPD tip-line 415-575-4444.
