It may be described as a freak accident, but the death of David Goldberg, one of the most influential men in Silicon Valley and half of the tech's power couple, is considered as a huge loss.
Goldberg is the spouse of Sheryl Sandberg, who rose to fame as the chief operating officer of Facebook after Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of the biggest social networking website in the world, saw her as a great fit for the role. Sanberg also authored a New York Times best-seller called Lean In.
However, Goldberg can also hold on his own since he was the chief executive of Survey Monkey, the leading research and survey company in the Internet. In 1994, around the same year he and Sandberg met, he founded LAUNCH Media, an online music website, which was later acquired by Yahoo for $12 million in 2001.
Despite the hectic schedule and the huge responsibilities both have in their respective jobs, they remain to be one of the sweetest and loving couples. Sandberg has even paid tribute to Goldberg in her book, telling the readers, who are mostly women, how important it is to find the right partner. Sandberg has always looked up to Goldberg as her best friend and great supporter. She also sees him as an amazing co-parent to two of their children.
They try to find time as much as possible to be with each other and their kids so the holiday in Cancun, Mexico, was definitely not unusual. Sadly, it was also in a gym in the private resort that he succumbed to his death on Friday, May 1. According to a report, he was found by his brother Robert on the floor at 7:00 p.m. with a pool of blood around him. It's believed that he has fallen off the treadmill, which eventually fractured his skull.
Sandberg has called the tragedy as "unexpected hell" and "darkest and saddest moment of my life" in a very moving Facebook post.
Goldberg will be laid to rest today in a private funeral.