Bob Lee (businessman)
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Bob Lee (December 20, 1979[3] – April 4, 2023) was an American tech executive and software engineer who founded Cash App. He was the chief technology officer of Square and the chief product officer of MobileCoin.
Bob Lee | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 20, 1979 |
| Died | April 4, 2023 (aged 43) |
| Education | Saint Louis University[2] |
| Occupation(s) | Technology entrepreneur, software engineer |
| Organizations | |
| Known for | Founding Cash App |
| Spouse | Krista Lee (separated) |
| Children | 2 |
On April 4, 2023, Lee was fatally stabbed in the Rincon Hill neighborhood of San Francisco.
Early life and career
Lee was born on December 20, 1979,[3] to Nannette and Rick "Ricky" Lee. He has one brother, Tim Oliver Lee.[4] In 2019, Lee's mother Nannette died,[5] and Rick moved to Mill Valley, California, to live with Lee's family. Lee and his father relocated once more to Miami in October 2022.[6] In high school, Lee wrote a 3D rendering engine in Turbo Pascal.[7] Lee attended Saint Louis University, where he became known as "Crazy Bob" from water polo,[8] and pledged Sigma Chi. In July 2001, while employed at Ajilon, Lee wrote a program for Microsoft IIS to defend servers from Code Red, a rapidly spreading computer worm around the time.[2]
By 2003, Lee was employed as a technical architect at AT&T. While at AT&T, Lee developed the aspect-oriented programming (AOP) framework dynaop similar to the Spring Framework for Java, featured in Oracle Magazine. dynaop served as the impetus for JavaServer Faces's (JSF) migration away from AOP.[9]
Lee was employed at Google as a staff software engineer from October 2004[10] to January 2010,[11] and helped develop the Android mobile operating system.[12] Lee co-authored the dependency injection framework Guice with Kevin Bourillon in 2006 while at Google to modularize AdWords.[13][14] Lee developed Guice based on ideas he had for Apache Struts, for which he concurrently worked on.[15] In 2008, Lee and Bourillon were awarded the Jolt Award for their work on Guice.[16] Lee transferred to the core libraries team in 2007,[17] eventually leading the team.[18] In May 2009, Lee created a Java dependency injection proposal with Rod Johnson.[19] Additionally, Lee worked on Dalvik, an Android process virtual machine.[20] During Oracle v. Google, Lee was called as a witness.[21]
In January 2010, e-commerce company Square recruited Lee.[11] There, he became the company's chief technology officer and led development on the company's Android app, eventually taking over development on Square's iOS app from now deceased co-founder Tristan O'Tierney.[22] Upon being made chief technology officer, Lee relocated to San Francisco from his St. Louis, Missouri home.[23] In 2013, Lee developed Cash App, then Square Cash. Lee left Square in 2014, investing in several tech startups, including Clubhouse, SpaceX, and Figma.[18][8] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lee helped the World Health Organization with its app.[24] In 2021, he joined cryptocurrency payment firm MobileCoin as its chief product officer.[25]
Personal life
Lee had polydactyly before undergoing surgery.[7]
In 2019, Lee and his wife, Krista, separated. The couple had a son and daughter together.[26] In July 2022, Lee sold the family home in Marin County.[27] Lee left Krista and his two children behind in the Bay Area when he moved to Miami with his father.[28]
Death
In the early morning hours of April 4, 2023, Lee was stabbed in the 300 block of Main Street in the Rincon Hill neighborhood of San Francisco.[8] Police were called to the scene at 2:35 a.m. local time. CCTV footage shows a wounded Lee stumbling to a parked car with hazard lights on and lifting his shirt to show his wound; the car immediately drove away, after which Lee collapsed on the ground. By the time police arrived on the scene, he was unconscious. He was taken to a local hospital where he died from his injuries at the age of 43.[29][30][25]
Tributes poured in following his death. MobileCoin CEO Joshua Goldbard described Lee as a "force of nature" and a "dynamo", while Square CEO Jack Dorsey called the news "heartbreaking". Former Google employee Joshua Bloch wrote that Lee was "remarkable" and an "autodidact".[26] Other tributes made include by mixed martial artist Jake Shields and San Francisco district attorney Brooke Jenkins. San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Matt Dorsey, whose district includes Rincon Hill, said that Lee's death was a "senseless tragedy"; San Francisco mayor London Breed said his death was a "horrible tragedy". Figma CEO Dylan Field, who met Lee in 2006, wrote that, "It's so hard to believe he is gone".[25]
Publications
- Tate, Bruce; Clark, Mike; Lee, Bob (2003). Bitter EJB. Shelter Island: Manning Publications. ISBN 9781930110953.
References
Citations
- ^ O'Brien, Matt; Har, Janie. "Few details in SF stabbing death of Cash App founder, St. Louis native Bob Lee". Associated Press. Retrieved April 7, 2023 – via The Missourian.
- ^ a b The Screen Savers. August 2001. TechTV.
- ^ a b Krista Lee [@mrs_crazybob] (December 20, 2014). "Happy Birthday @crazybob !!! Hugs and kisses! From: @ScoutOuttaLuck @MineHeart22 & @mrs_crazybob" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Drenon, Brandon (April 5, 2023). "Bob Lee dead: Cash App founder dies after San Francisco stabbing". BBC. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ "Nannette Lee Obituary". Cypress Pointe Cremation. April 23, 2019. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
- ^ Evans, Greg (April 5, 2023). "Cash App Founder Bob Lee Fatally Stabbed On San Francisco Street; Twitter Ex-CEO Jack Dorsey Calls Killing "Heartbreaking"". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ a b Lee, Bob (December 20, 2006). "Five things you may not know about me..." crazybob.org. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ a b c Lerman, Rachel (April 5, 2023). "Cash App founder Bob Lee killed in San Francisco". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ Beernink & Tijms 2019, p. 12-13.
- ^ Beernink & Tijms 2019, p. 13.
- ^ a b Beernink & Tijms 2019, p. 25.
- ^ Mack, David (April 5, 2023). "The Creator Of Cash App Was Stabbed To Death In San Francisco". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ Vanbrabrant 2008, p. 5.
- ^ Bob Lee [@crazybob] (January 12, 2010). "I originally created Guice to modularize AdWords w/o sacrificing up-front checking. DI was a means to an end" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Psaltis & Michael Davis 2008, p. 475.
- ^ Lee, Bob (March 17, 2008). "Thanks for the Jolt!". Google Open Source Blog. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ Haase 2022, p. 146.
- ^ a b Hurley, Bevan (April 5, 2023). "Everything we know about the murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee in San Francisco". The Independent. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ Beernink & Tijms 2019, p. 22.
- ^ Tim O'Brien (October 12, 2011). Bob Lee, CTO Square, Inc. talks about the Java community (Interview). San Francisco: O'Reilly Media. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
- ^ Brodkin, Jon (April 23, 2012). "Newly revived patent gives Oracle extra ammunition in Google trial". Ars Technica. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
- ^ Lynley, Matt (December 22, 2011). "Meet The Most Important People Working At Silicon Valley's Next Red-Hot Startup". Business Insider. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ O'Brien, Timothy (October 13, 2011). "Bob Lee on Java references and the state of Java". O'Reilly Media. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
- ^ Holt, Kris (April 5, 2023). "Cash App creator Bob Lee reportedly killed in San Francisco stabbing". Engadget. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ a b c Thorbecke, Catherine (April 5, 2023). "Tech executive Bob Lee dead after apparent stabbing attack in San Francisco". CNN Business. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ a b Da Silva, Chantal; Arkin, Daniel (April 5, 2023). "Cash App founder Bob Lee reportedly killed in San Francisco stabbing, sources say". NBC News. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ Jacob, Mary K. (April 5, 2023). "Cash App founder Bob Lee sold Bay Area home just months before death". New York Post. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ Lukpat, Alyssa (April 5, 2023). "Cash App Founder Bob Lee Fatally Stabbed in San Francisco". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ Drenon, Brandon (April 6, 2023). "Bob Lee dead: Cash App founder dies after San Francisco stabbing". BBC News.
- ^ "Update: Cash App founder, MobileCoin CPO Bob Lee stabbed to death in San Francisco's Rincon Hill neighborhood". CBS News. April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
Bibliography
- Beernink, Jan; Tijms, Arjan (2019). Pro CDI 2 in Java EE 8: An In-Depth Guide to Context and Dependency Injection. New York: Apress. ISBN 9781484243633.
- Haase, Chet (2022). Androids: The Team that Built the Android Operating System. San Francisco: No Starch Press. ISBN 9781718502697.
- Psaltis, Andrew; Michael Davis, Chad (2008). Struts 2 in Action. Shelter Island: Manning Publications. ISBN 9781638355014.
- Vanbrabrant, Robbie (2008). Google Guice: Agile Lightweight Dependency Injection Framework. New York: Apress. ISBN 9781430208631.