Bob Lee (December 20, 1979 – April 4, 2023) was an American businessman and software engineer who was best known for helping to create the financial service Cash App. He was the chief technology officer of Square and the chief product officer of MobileCoin.
Bob Lee | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. | December 20, 1979
Died | April 4, 2023 | (aged 43)
Cause of death | Homicide by stabbing |
Education | Southeast Missouri State University |
Occupations |
|
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.[1] The San Francisco Police Department arrested Nima Momeni for Lee's killing on April 13, 2023.[2]
Early life and career
editLee was born in St. Louis, Missouri on December 20, 1979.[3][4] Tim Oliver Lee is his brother.[5] In 2019, following the death of Lee's mother, his father moved to Mill Valley, California, to live with Lee's family. Bob Lee and his father relocated once more to Miami in October 2022.[6] While attending Lindbergh High School[7] Lee wrote a 3D rendering engine in Turbo Pascal,[8] and became known as "Crazy Bob" for his exuberant energy in playing water polo.[9] Lee attended Southeast Missouri State University and pledged the Sigma Chi.[9]
On August 7, 2001, Lee released a free program to defend Microsoft IIS servers from Code Red, which was at the time a rapidly spreading computer worm.[10] Lee worked for Southeast Missouri State University as a web developer.[11] 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.[12]
Lee was employed at Google as a staff software engineer from October 2004[13] to January 2010,[14] and helped develop the Android mobile operating system.[15] Lee co-authored the dependency injection framework Guice with Kevin Bourrillion in 2006 while at Google to modularize AdWords.[16][17] Lee developed Guice based on ideas he had for Apache Struts, which he concurrently worked on.[18] In 2008, Lee and Bourrillion were awarded the Jolt Award for their work on Guice.[19] Lee transferred to the core libraries team in 2007[20] eventually leading the team.[21] In May 2009, Lee created a Java dependency injection proposal with Rod Johnson,[22] and he was also part of the expert group for a Java proposal which added lambda expressions, as well as another proposal to add concurrency to the language.[23] Additionally Lee worked on Dalvik, an Android process virtual machine.[24] During Oracle v. Google, Lee was called as a witness.[25]
In January 2010, the e-commerce company Square recruited Lee.[14] 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.[26] After becoming the chief technology officer, Lee moved to San Francisco from his St. Louis, Missouri home.[27] In 2013, he helped Square build Cash App, then Square Cash. He left Square in 2014, investing in several tech startups, including Clubhouse, SpaceX, and Figma.[21][28] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lee assisted the World Health Organization with its app.[29] In 2021, he joined the cryptocurrency payment firm MobileCoin as its chief product officer.[30]
Personal life
editLee had polydactyly before undergoing surgery.[8]
In 2019, Lee and his wife, Krista, separated. The couple had two children together.[31][32] Krista and Lee's two children stayed in the Bay Area when Lee moved to Miami to live with his father.[33]
Death
editIn the early morning of April 4, 2023, Lee was stabbed in the 300 block of Main Street in the Rincon Hill neighborhood of San Francisco.[28] 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 its 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.[34][35][30] The autopsy report released by the San Francisco medical examiner's office showed that he suffered knife wounds to his heart and lung.[36] The autopsy also revealed evidence of alcohol, cocaine and ketamine consumption.[37]
On April 13, the San Francisco Police Department arrested 38-year-old Nima Momeni of Emeryville for the murder of Lee.[38] Momeni had been working in the technology industry since 2005 and allegedly knew Lee.[39] The nature of how Lee and Momeni knew each other or a motive was not initially revealed. However, on May 14, 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported that Lee and Khazar Elyassnia (Momeni's sister) had a "casual sexual relationship" despite her being married and that Lee had dated Momeni's ex-girlfriend three years before his death. Hours before Lee's death, Momeni had confronted Lee about whether or not his sister was doing drugs or anything else with Lee that Momeni considered inappropriate due to Elyassnia's marriage. Lee had attended several house parties with Elyassnia before his death and had taken several drugs with her at the time of his death. Elyassnia was also arrested for driving under the influence, but the charges were later dismissed. [40][41]
Publications
edit- Tate, Bruce; Clark, Mike; Lee, Bob (2003). Bitter EJB. Shelter Island: Manning Publications. ISBN 9781930110953.
References
editCitations
edit- ^ Hamilton, Katherine. "Cash App Creator Bob Lee Dead After Stabbing In San Francisco". Forbes. Archived from the original on April 12, 2023. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
- ^ Anguiano, Dani (April 14, 2023). "Bob Lee's killing was 'planned and deliberate', prosecutors say". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 16, 2023.
- ^ Krista Lee [@mrs_crazybob] (December 20, 2014). "Happy Birthday @crazybob !!! Hugs and kisses! From: @ScoutOuttaLuck @MineHeart22 & @mrs_crazybob" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ O'Brien, Matt; Har, Janie (April 6, 2023). "Few details in SF stabbing death of Cash App founder, St. Louis native Bob Lee". The Missourian. Associated Press. Archived from the original on April 7, 2023. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
- ^ Drenon, Brandon (April 5, 2023). "Bob Lee dead: Cash App founder dies after San Francisco stabbing". BBC. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 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. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ Walter, Danny (April 8, 2023). "Slain Cash App founder had ties to Cape Girardeau". Southeast Missourian. Archived from the original on April 7, 2023. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
- ^ a b Lee, Bob (December 20, 2006). "Five things you may not know about me..." crazybob.org. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ a b Lerman, Rachel; Mark, Julian (April 7, 2023). "Friends remember CashApp founder's zest for life, while mourning his death". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
- ^ "Code Red Vigilante". November 8, 2001. Archived from the original on October 30, 2001. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
- ^ Salzano, Miabelle (April 6, 2023). "What we know about Bob Lee, the Cash App founder stabbed, killed in SF". KTVI. Archived from the original on April 6, 2023. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
- ^ Beernink & Tijms 2019, p. 11-13.
- ^ 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. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. 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.
- ^ Brown, Michael Davis & Stanlick 2008, p. 475.
- ^ Lee, Bob (March 17, 2008). "Thanks for the Jolt!". Google Open Source Blog. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. 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. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ Beernink & Tijms 2019, p. 22.
- ^ "Bob Lee on Java's Future, Lambdas, DI with Guice vs Dagger, Java and Ruby at Square". InfoQ. January 11, 2013. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
- ^ Tim O'Brien (October 12, 2011). Bob Lee, CTO Square, Inc. talks about the Java community. O'Reilly Media (Interview). San Francisco. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
- ^ Brodkin, Jon (April 23, 2012). "Newly revived patent gives Oracle extra ammunition in Google trial". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on April 6, 2023. 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. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ O'Brien, Timothy (October 13, 2011). "Bob Lee on Java references and the state of Java". O'Reilly Media. Archived from the original on April 9, 2023. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
- ^ a b Lerman, Rachel (April 5, 2023). "Cash App founder Bob Lee killed in San Francisco". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ Holt, Kris (April 5, 2023). "Cash App creator Bob Lee reportedly killed in San Francisco stabbing". Engadget. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ a b Thorbecke, Catherine (April 5, 2023). "Tech executive Bob Lee dead after apparent stabbing attack in San Francisco". CNN Business. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ Da Silva, Chantal; Arkin, Daniel (April 5, 2023). "Cash App founder Bob Lee reportedly killed in San Francisco stabbing, sources say". NBC News. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ LaFraniere, Sharon; Hubler, Shawn; Fuller, Thomas (April 13, 2023). "Tech Consultant Arrested in San Francisco Killing of Cash App Creator". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
- ^ Lukpat, Alyssa (April 5, 2023). "Cash App Founder Bob Lee Fatally Stabbed in San Francisco". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ Drenon, Brandon (April 6, 2023). "Bob Lee dead: Cash App founder dies after San Francisco stabbing". BBC News. Archived from the original on April 17, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
- ^ "Update: Cash App founder, MobileCoin CPO Bob Lee stabbed to death in San Francisco's Rincon Hill neighborhood". CBS News. April 5, 2023. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ Mossburg, Cheri; Hassan, Carma; Yan, Holly (May 2, 2023). "Cash App founder Bob Lee was stabbed in the heart and lung in a fatal attack, autopsy report says". CNN. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
- ^ Li, David; Blankstein, Andrew (May 2, 2023). "Autopsy shows tech exec Bob Lee consumed alcohol, cocaine and ketamine before he was killed". NBC. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
- ^ Ruiz, Michael (April 13, 2023). "San Francisco police arrest man in Cash App founder Bob Lee stabbing death: report". Fox News. Archived from the original on April 16, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
- ^ Eskenazi, Joe (April 13, 2023). "Arrest made in SF killing of Bob Lee — tech exec's alleged killer also worked in tech". Mission Local. Archived from the original on April 17, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
- ^ Breen, Kerry (April 14, 2023). "Details emerge about Nima Momeni, suspect charged with murder in death of tech executive Bob Lee". CBS News. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
- ^ Grind, Kirsten; Bindley, Katherine; Elinson, Zusha (May 14, 2023). "Before His Killing, Tech Executive Bob Lee Led an Underground Life of Sex and Drugs". The Wall Street Journal.
Works cited
edit- 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.
- Brown, Donald; Michael Davis, Chad; Stanlick, Scott (2008). Struts 2 in Action. Greenwich Connecticut: Manning Publications. ISBN 9781638355014.
- Vanbrabrant, Robbie (2008). Google Guice: Agile Lightweight Dependency Injection Framework. New York: Apress. ISBN 9781430208631.