David Goldberg, the highly respected Silicon Valley entrepreneur and chief executive of online questionnaire company SurveyMonkey died suddenly on Friday, according to MSN News. The 47-year-old father of two was also the husband of Facebook’s chief operating officer (COO) Sheryl Sandberg, whose death drew widespread industry tributes from virtually all the big shots in Silicon Valley.
A SurveyMonkey spokesperson for said that the company, which was founded by Ryan Finley in 1999, was “deeply saddened”.
“Dave’s genius, courage and leadership were overshadowed only by his compassion, friendship and heart,” SurveyMonkey said in a statement.
David’s brother, Robert Goldberg, described his family’s “incredible shock and sadness”, in an online post and requested that well-wishers post photos and memories to his Facebook profile page in his memory.
“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,” Robert Goldberg wrote.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, said of David Goldberg in a post:
“An amazing person and I am glad I got to know him”.
Dick Costolo, Twitter’s chief executive said of the former WebMonkey chief executive:
“One of the truly great people on the planet, Dave was of almost unimaginably remarkable character.”
Jeff Weiner, chief executive of LinkedIn also said of David Goldberg :
“One of kindest and most generous friends I’ve known.”
