A tech giant respected and loved by all who knew him.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: David Goldberg, chief executive of Survey Monkey and husband of Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, who abruptly passed away at the age of 47, died apparently at a gym.
According to an Associated Press source, Sandberg was exercising at a gym in a Mexican resort when he collapsed before dying on Friday. The individual who revealed the information was not authorized to comment on the story publicly and so asked to remain unnamed, reported the Washington Post.
Goldberg rose to prominence in the tech industry during the dot-com boom of 1990s, founding a company by the name of Launch Media in 1994 and then selling it to Yahoo in 2001. He stayed on at Yahoo for six years before joining Benchmark Capital, where he served as an entrepreneur in residence.
2009 saw him head to Survey Monkey, which he subsequently built into a billion-dollar company, growing the staff from 14 to what is now 500, according to Business Insider. He had just celebrated his sixth anniversary at the company, calling it “one of [his] best decisions,” reported the Huffington Post.
Goldberg was renowned for his outspoken support of his wife’s efforts to promote equal pay and treatment for women in the workplace.
Sandberg, who wrote the book “Lean In” and has been Facebook COO since 2008, has repeatedly described her husband’s support as crucial in helping her accomplish her career goals while having a family, reported the Wall Street Journal.
“The most important career choice you’ll make is who you marry. I have an awesome husband, and we’re 50/50,” she said at a 2011 conference in New York, as recounted by WSJ.
Remembrances poured in through social media over the weekend, with many notable names adding their condolences to those of countless others.
“Dave Goldberg was an amazing person and I am glad I got to know him. My thoughts and prayers are with Sheryl and her family,” wrote Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook.
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo called the news “heartbreaking” in a tweet, and described Goldberg as “one of the truly great people on the planet … of almost unimaginably remarkable character.”
Recode’s Kara Swisher mourned the “incomprehensible” loss by remarking that “his unfailing kindness toward everyone, endless generosity with his time, insights, and advice, and basic great-guy personality made Dave — no one called him David, really — the heart and also soul of the tech and media community.”