Founder Of One Of The Biggest Apps Stabbed To Death In The Street
Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App, was stabbed to death on Tuesday in a senseless act of violence.
A heartbreaking story has emerged over the fatal stabbing death of Bob Lee, founder of Cash App, a money-transferring service that’s known for its cutting-edge data encryption and fraud detection technology. According to Deadline, Lee was attacked in the Rincon Hill neighborhood in San Francisco when he was on a business trip, and the attack is believed to have been the result of a random act of violence. The 43-year-old was hospitalized at around 2:45 am (April 4, 2023), but ultimately succumbed to his injuries.
At this point in time, nobody has been arrested, and there is no information publicly available in regard to potential suspects for Bob Lee’s murder. However, there has been an outpouring of grief and sorrow for Lee and his family, and the tech world has certainly lost the brilliant mind that brought us Cash App. While we’re mourning his loss, we wanted to draw attention to the technical innovations he was a part of and highlight his accomplishments in the tech world that have impacted our lives in so many positive ways.
Though Bob Lee was most known for his development of Cash App in 2013, he also had a heavy hand in the development of Square after being recruited by the e-commerce company in 2010. Since leaving Square in 2014, Lee invested in several tech startups, including the social audio app, Clubhouse, Elon Musk‘s SpaceX, and the collaborative interface design tool, Figma. It’s clear that Lee had an unmatched passion for technology that not only made our lives easier but also more secure.
Bob Lee’s brilliant mind also landed him the role of chief product officer for MobileCoin, a popular cryptocurrency payment firm, in 2021. Described as a “force of a nature,” by MobileCoin CEO Joshua Goldbard, it’s evident that Bob Lee truly cared about the projects he worked on. In the wake of his untimely death, Goldbard stated, “Moby (a MobileCoin property) was his dream: a privacy-protecting wallet for the 21st century. I will miss him every day.”
Former Twitter CEO and Square founder, Jack Dorsey, also came forward on social media to speak highly of Bob Lee, stating, “Heartbreaking. Bob was instrumental to Square and Cash App.”
Bob Lee’s passion for tools like Cash App and MobileCoin didn’t get in the way of him trying to donate his time and talent to greater goods outside of the financial sector. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lee also assisted the World Health Organization (WHO) with their app, which eventually led to the development of a company that specialized in at-home COVID-19 testing.
Lee left behind a wife, two daughters, and his father, who went on record, stating that he “lost his best friend” to this senseless act of violence that took his life on April 4. Speaking highly of his son, Rick Lee said that “Bobby worked harder than anyone and was the smartest person I have ever known. He will be missed by all those that knew him.”
Bob Lee may have brought us Cash App, but his legacy is so much more than that when you look at what he was able to accomplish when he put his mind to it.
As we celebrate Bob Lee’s life and legacy, we must also mourn his untimely passing. Though we don’t know what motivated the fatal stabbing of the Cash App founder, San Francisco district attorney, Brooke Jenkins, urges citizens to pass any information they have to the San Francisco tip line at 1-415-575-4444.
