Facebook COO says mourning over husband left her '30 years sadder'

[June 04, 2015] By Yasmeen Abutaleb

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook's Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg took to the social media site on Wednesday to say she felt "thirty years sadder" after the 30-day mourning period she observed following her husband's sudden death.

Sandberg's husband, SurveyMonkey Chief Executive Dave Goldberg, died on May 1 after falling off a treadmill during a vacation in Mexico. Sandberg posted an online tribute four days after the death of Goldberg, who built a company valued at $2 billion. She has also periodically shared posts about her mourning and pictures of Goldberg. Her 1,731-word post Wednesday marked the end of sheloshim, the traditional Jewish 30-day period of mourning for a spouse. "I have lived thirty years in these thirty days," Sandberg wrote. "I am thirty years sadder. I feel like I am thirty years wiser." Sandberg also said Goldberg's death helped her gain a "more profound understanding of what it is to be a mother," and that she rejoiced that her children were alive each day. She ended the post with lyrics from Bono, who sang at Goldberg's Silicon Valley memorial service last month. "'There is no end to grief ... and there is no end to love,'" she posted. "I love you, Dave." (Reporting By Yasmeen Abutaleb; Editing by Tom Brown) [© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.