Popular Silicon Valley Figure Dies At Just 46

There was some sad news for Silicon Valley this weekend, as it has emerged that Dave Goldberg passed away on Friday night.

Goldberg was the CEO of SurveyMonkey, a position he had held since 2009, and he was married to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. He was only 47 when he died.

The BBC spotted a post on Facebook by his brother, Robert, who said: “It’s with incredible shock and sadness that I’m letting our friends and family know that my amazing brother, Dave Goldberg, beloved husband of Sheryl Sandberg, father of two wonderful children, and son of Paula Goldberg, passed away suddenly last night.

“No words can express the depth of loss we feel, but we want his children to learn how much he meant to all of you. In lieu of donations, we want to celebrate his life in a manner that respects the family’s privacy as they cope with this tragic, life changing event: Sheryl, their children, and our family would be grateful if people would post their memories and pictures of Dave to his Facebook profile.”

SurveyMonkey also released a statement to the press on Saturday, which read: “We are deeply saddened to announce that Dave Goldberg passed away suddenly last night. Dave’s genius, courage and leadership were overshadowed only by his compassion, friendship and heart.

“His greatest love was for his family. Our sympathy goes out to them and to all who were touched by this extraordinary man. We are all heartbroken.”

Goldberg founded media company Launch Media, which offered an online music site, in 1994, and it was subsequently acquired by Yahoo in 2001 for $12 million (£7.9 million). He was then VP and GM of Yahoo Music, and then moved to become Entrepreneur in Residence with Benchmark Capital, before becoming chief exec at SurveyMonkey.

Image Credit: Robert Goldberg

Author: Darren Allan