Bob Lee was a visionary entrepreneur and software engineer who helped create Cash App, one of the most popular mobile payment services in the world. He also contributed to the development of Android, the operating system that powers billions of smartphones. Lee’s net worth was estimated to be around $10 million before his tragic death in 2023. How did he achieve such success and wealth in his career? Here is a brief overview of his life and achievements.
Early Life and Education
Lee was born in St. Louis, Missouri on December 20, 1979. He attended Lindbergh High School, where he wrote a 3D rendering engine in Turbo Pascal and became known as “Crazy Bob” for his exuberant energy in playing water polo. He went on to study at Southeast Missouri State University and pledged Sigma Chi. He also released a free program to defend Microsoft IIS servers from Code Red, a computer worm that was spreading rapidly in 2001.
Career at Google and Square
Lee started his professional career as a web developer for various companies, such as Redrock Communications, Southeast Missouri State University, D’Arcy, Capgemini, Ajilon Consulting, and OCI. He then joined AT&T as a technical architect and developed an aspect-oriented programming framework called dynaop, which was featured in Oracle Magazine.
In 2004, Lee moved to Google as a staff software engineer and worked on several projects related to the Android mobile operating system. He co-authored the dependency injection framework Guice with Kevin Bourrillion in 2006, which won the Jolt Award in 2008. He also worked on Dalvik, the process virtual machine for Android, and was part of the expert group for Java proposals that added lambda expressions and concurrency to the language. He was also called as a witness in the Oracle v. Google lawsuit over the use of Java APIs in Android.
In 2010, Lee left Google and joined Square, an e-commerce company founded by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey. He became the chief technology officer of Square and led the development of the Android app, which allowed users to accept credit card payments using their smartphones. He also took over the development of the iOS app from Tristan O’Tierney, who later died of addiction-related causes in 2019.
Creation of Cash App
Lee’s most notable achievement was the creation of Cash App, a mobile payment service that was launched by Square in 2013 as Square Cash. The app enabled users to send and receive money instantly using their phone numbers or email addresses. The app also allowed users to buy and sell Bitcoin, invest in stocks, and get discounts at selected merchants using a debit card called Cash Card.
Cash App became a huge success and a cultural phenomenon, especially among young people and rap artists who mentioned it in their songs. The app had over 44 million verified monthly users and generated over $1.8 billion in gross profit in 2019. In 2020, Cash App’s net value was estimated to be around $40 billion.
Other Ventures and Investments
Lee was not only a creator but also an investor and advisor for several tech startups and companies. He was a limited partner for SignalFire and SV Angel, two prominent venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. He also invested in Clubhouse, Figma, SpaceX, MobileCoin, PreDxion Bio, and many more.
Lee was also passionate about privacy and security issues. He worked with the World Health Organization to develop an app during the COVID-19 pandemic that protected users’ data from third parties. He also became the chief product officer of MobileCoin, a cryptocurrency project that aimed to provide fast, secure, and private transactions.
Death and Legacy
Lee’s life was cut short on April 4, 2023, when he was fatally stabbed in San Francisco. He was reportedly visiting the city for business purposes and stayed for an extra day. The police found him with multiple stab wounds near the entrance of a high-rise building close to the waterfront. He was taken to a hospital but succumbed to his injuries. The police arrested Nima Momeni for Lee’s killing on April 13, 2023.
Lee’s death shocked and saddened many people who knew him or admired his work. His father posted a tribute on Facebook, saying that he was proud of his son’s accomplishments and that he loved him very much. His brother Tim Oliver Lee also expressed his grief on Twitter, calling him his best friend and hero.
Many tech leaders and celebrities also paid their respects to Lee on social media. Jack Dorsey said that Lee was “instrumental” to Square and Cash App and that he was “one of the best people” he ever worked with. Joshua Goldbard, the CEO of MobileCoin, said that Lee was a “force of nature” who helped bring Android and Cash App to the world. Elon Musk said that he was “deeply saddened” by Lee’s death and that he was “a great innovator and friend”.
Lee’s legacy lives on through his creations and contributions to the tech industry and society. He was a visionary entrepreneur and software engineer who made a positive impact on millions of people’s lives. He will be remembered as the founder of Cash App and one of the pioneers of Android.
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