‘I just lost my best friend.’ Friends, family mourn Cash App founder killed in San Francisco stabbing

Family and friends of Cash App founder Bob Lee mourned the loss of their loved one after the tech executive was fatally stabbed in San Francisco this week.

A 43-year-old man, identified by friends and family as Lee, was found early Tuesday by San Francisco Police Department officers on Main Street in the Rincon Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, according to a news release. The man was suffering from stab wounds and died later at a hospital.

No information on a suspect or an arrest has been announced as of Thursday.

Lee lived in Mill Valley, Calif., after his mother died in 2019 and moved to Miami in October, according to a Wednesday Facebook post by his father, Rick Lee.

“Bobby worked harder than anyone and was the smartest person I have ever known,” Rick Lee wrote. “He will be missed by all those that knew him. Thank you to those who have reached out in support.”

Lee was a chief product officer at cryptocurrency startup MobileCoin and previously worked as chief technology officer at the payments platform Square, which has since been renamed Block.

Lee’s brother, Tim Lee, also wrote on Facebook that he was “saddened and disheartened to lose my brother.”

“He really was the best of us,” he continued. “I was so fortunate to grow up with him, and I feel like I’ve lost part of myself.”

Lee was visiting the San Francisco Bay Area for a MobileCoin leadership summit and stayed longer in order to see his friends, according to his friend, Doug Dalton.

“I have no words to express the loss of Bob, my heart goes out to his children, family and all of his amazing friends,” Dalton wrote on Twitter.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed confirmed in a statement that Lee was killed, calling it a “horrible tragedy.”

“San Francisco is prioritizing public safety, including recently passing our budget supplemental so we have the police staffing necessary to have more police officers in our neighborhoods and to investigate violent crimes when they do occur,” she wrote.

San Francisco Police Department Chief Bill Scott released a statement Wednesday saying that the investigation is still in its early stages and that the department “won’t be commenting on evidence, nor will we speculate on the circumstance surrounding this horrific crime.”

“I would like to express my deepest condolences to the family, friends, and the loved ones of Mr. Lee,” Scott wrote. “There is no place for this kind of violent crime against anyone in our city.”