Dave Goldberg, 47, chief executive of SurveyMonkey and the husband of Facebook exec Sheryl Sandberg, died suddenly Friday night.

Goldberg, who grew up in Minneapolis, was a serial Silicon Valley entrepreneur and venture capitalist. His death was confirmed by SurveyMonkey, which is known for its Web-based survey technology. The cause of death was not disclosed.

His brother, Robert Goldberg, shared news of the death in a Facebook post and urged people who knew him to post memories and pictures on Goldberg's memorial Facebook profile.

Goldberg lived with his wife, the chief operating officer of Facebook, in Menlo Park, Calif. He's also survived by their two children and his mother, Paula Goldberg, of the Twin Cities.

"Dave's genius, courage and leadership were overshadowed only by his compassion, friendship and heart," read a SurveyMonkey statement. "Our sympathy goes out to [the family] and to all who were touched by this extraordinary man. We are all heartbroken."

Goldberg graduated from the Blake School in Hopkins in 1985 and in 2014 he and his brother received the Outstanding Alumni award. As a high school student, he interned at the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in history and government. His mother, Paula, is executive director of Pacer Center in the Twin Cities, which provides services to children with disabilities.

Goldberg was always quick with a wisecrack, and he kept a sense of humor about being the less famous half of one of Silicon Valley's pre-eminent power couples. Sandberg, who achieved global fame with her book "Lean In" about the challenges faced by women in the workplace, often said she could not have succeeded in her career without his substantial assistance at home.

As word of Goldberg's death spread, fellow CEOs turned to social meda to offer tributes.

Among them, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo called the news "heartbreaking" in a tweet.

Mark Benioff, CEO of business software giant Salesforce, wrote:

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be sent to the David B. Goldberg Endowment, c/o Pacer Center, 8161 Normandale Blvd., Bloomington, MN, 55437.

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