Sheryl Sandberg Writes Tribute To Late Husband

News of Dave Goldberg's passing broke this past weekend, and on Facebook Tuesday, Sheryl Sandberg posted a moving tribute to Goldberg, her late husband. Goldberg, 47, died of a head trauma Friday while exercising on vacation in Mexico, according to local officials. Sandberg's statement marks the first time the chief operating officer of Facebook and author of the power girl guidebook Lean In: Women, Work, And The Will To Lead, has publicly commented on her husband's death.

Sandberg wrote how the two met while working for Yahoo! in Los Angeles nearly 20 years ago. During their courtship of fun outings and temple for Jewish holidays, Goldberg showed her the Internet for the first time, she wrote. In 2004, Sandberg and Goldberg got married and had two children, a son and a daughter. She also posted two photos of herself with her husband, including one from their wedding.

The pair was widely considered a major power couple in Silicon Valley. Goldberg was chief executive officer of cloud survey site SurveyMonkey while Sandberg became Facebook's first female board member and made herself a household name with her bestselling book that advised women on how to balance work and family life. The emotional eulogy acknowledges the days since Goldberg's death have been a "completely unexpected hell," but Sandberg expresses gratitude for having spent 11 years of her life being his wife.

If the day I walked down that aisle with Dave someone had told me that this would happen — that he would be taken from us all in just 11 years — I would still have walked down that aisle. Because 11 years of being Dave Goldberg’s wife, and 10 years of being a parent with him is perhaps more luck and more happiness than I could have ever imagined. I am grateful for every minute we had.

As we put the love of my life to rest today, we buried only his body. His spirit, his soul, his amazing ability to give is still with it. It lives on in the stories people are sharing of how he touched their lives, in the love that is visible in the eyes of our family and friends, in the spirit and resilience of our children. Things will never be the same — but the world is better for the years my beloved husband lived.

You can read the full tribute on Sandberg's Facebook page.