Susan Wojcickiwho was CEO of YouTube for nine years during a period of tremendous growth for the video platform and was one of Google's first employees, died on Friday, August 9. She was 56.
Wojcicki's death after a two-year battle with cancer was announced Friday evening by her husband, Dennis Troper, in a public post on Facebook.
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“It is with deep sadness that I share the news of Susan Wojcicki's passing. My beloved wife of 26 years and mother of our five children left us today after living for 2 years with non-small cell lung cancer,” Troper wrote in the post. “Susan was not only my best friend and partner in life, but a brilliant mind, a loving mother, and a dear friend to so many. Her impact on our family and the world was immeasurable. We are saddened, but grateful for the time we had with her. Please keep our family in your thoughts as we navigate this difficult time.”
Sundar PichaiGoogle and Alphabet CEO, said in a tribute on X: “Incredibly saddened by the loss of my dear friend @SusanWojcicki after two years of living with cancer. She is as important to Google's history as anyone, and it's hard to imagine the world without her.” Pichai continued: “She was an incredible person, leader, and friend who had an enormous impact on the world, and I am one of countless Googlers better off for knowing her. We will miss her tremendously. Our thoughts are with her family. RIP Susan.”
Wojcicki joined Google in 1999 as its 16th employee and became the search engine's first marketing manager. Co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin initially ran the company from her garage in Menlo Park, California. Among her other accomplishments, she closed the company's first deals to license search technology and led the initial development of Google's image search.
In February 2014, Wojcicki was named CEO of YouTube. Wojcicki's appointment by Google, one of the company's most senior executives, reflected how important the video platform had become to its advertising business. She stepped down as YouTube's CEO in February 2023, but remained an advisor to the company.
Neal Mohan, who succeeded Wojcicki as YouTube CEO, said he was “fortunate to meet Susan 17 years ago when she was the architect of the acquisition of DoubleClick,” the ad tech company where he was an executive. “Her legacy lives on in everything she touched @google and @youtube,” Mohan wrote on X. “I am forever grateful for her friendship and guidance. I will miss her dearly. My heart goes out to her family and loved ones.”
During her multiple stints at Google, Wojcicki oversaw product management for AdSense, Google Book Search, and Google Video, as well as the syndication of the company's products. Before Google, she worked at Intel, Bain & Co., and R.B. Webber & Co.
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