Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki dead at 56

Susan Wojcicki, one of the first people to join Google when it was founded in 1998 and the CEO of YouTube from 2014 to 2023, has died after a battle with cancer, according to her family. She was 56 years old.

“My beloved wife of 26 years and mother to our five children left us today after 2 years of living with non-small cell lung cancer,” her husband, Dennis Troper, said in a statement on late Friday night.

“Susan was not just my best friend and partner in life, but a brilliant mind, a loving mother, and a dear friend to many,” Troper said. “Her impact on our family and the world was immeasurable. We are heartbroken, but grateful for the time we had with her.”

Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said he was “unbelievably saddened” by her death.

“She is as core to the history of Google as anyone, and it’s hard to imagine the world without her,” Pichai wrote on X. “She was an incredible person, leader and friend who had a tremendous impact on the world and I’m one of countless Googlers who is better for knowing her.”

Wojcicki joined Google in September 1998, the same month the company was incorporated, with co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin setting up an office in Wojcicki’s garage in Menlo Park, CA. She worked on multiple Google products before dedicating her time to YouTube, where she became CEO in February 2014.

“Twenty-five years ago I made the decision to join a couple of Stanford graduate students who were building a new search engine. Their names were Larry and Sergey,” Wojcicki wrote in her resignation announcement last year. “I saw the potential of what they were building, which was incredibly exciting, and although the company had only a few users and no revenue, I decided to join the team. It would be one of the best decisions of my life.”

Wojcicki said she decided to resign as CEO to start a “new chapter” focused on her family, health and personal projects. Last month, she announced she would serve on the board of satellite firm Planet Labs, which is backed by Alphabet’s Google.

In February, Wojcicki’s 19-year-old son Marco was found dead in his dorm at the University of California, Berkeley. The coroner’s office said his death was caused by acute combined drug toxicity. There were no signs of foul play.

Unbelievably saddened by the loss of my dear friend @SusanWojcicki after two years of living with cancer. She is as core to the history of Google as anyone, and it’s hard to imagine the world without her. She was an incredible person, leader and friend who had a tremendous…

— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) August 10, 2024