[Obituary] Susan Wojcicki, one of the earliest members of Google and former CEO of YouTube, has passed away

Susan Wojcicki, one of the original founders of Google and former CEO of YouTube, has died of lung cancer. She was 56 years old.

Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has passed away at age 56 | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/09/former-youtube-ceo-susan-wojcicki-has-passed-away-at-age-56/

Susan Wojcicki Dead: Former YouTube CEO Was 56
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/susan-wojcicki-dead-former-youtube-ceo-1235971360/

Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki Passes Away From Cancer
https://news.abplive.com/business/former-youtube-ceo-susan-wojcicki-passes-away-from-cancer-1709277

Wojcicki is known as one of the first 20 employees of Google. He became involved with Google when he was a doctoral student at Stanford University and lent his friends Larry Page and Sergey Brin (founders of Google) the garage of his home in Menlo Park, California. The story of Wojcicki's garage in the early days of Google's founding was also revealed in a blog post published in commemoration of Google's 25th anniversary.

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Google acquired YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion, an astronomical amount at the time. Multiple reports have revealed that the acquisition was proposed by Wojcicki himself to Page and Brin. Wojcicki then became CEO of YouTube in 2014 and served in that role for nine years until his retirement in early 2023. Under Wojcicki's leadership, YouTube has grown into a cash cow platform that generates hundreds of billions of yen in revenue for Google. In the fourth quarter of 2023 (October to December) , YouTube recorded sales of $9.2 billion through advertising sales, which is more than 10% of the total sales of Alphabet, Google's parent company.

When Wojcicki stepped down as CEO of YouTube in early 2023, she explained that she was stepping down to 'start a new chapter focused on my family, my health, and personal projects I'm passionate about.'

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On the evening of Friday, August 9, 2024 (local time), Wojcicki's husband, Dennis Troper, updated Facebook to announce Wojcicki's death. Troper wrote, 'It is with deep sadness that I announce the passing of Susan Wojcicki. My beloved wife of 26 years and mother of our five children, Susan, passed away today after a two-year battle with non-small cell lung cancer . Susan was not only my best friend and life partner, but also a brilliant mind, a loving mother, and a dear friend to so many. Her impact on our family and the world is immeasurable. We are heartbroken but grateful for the time we had with her. Please keep our family in your thoughts as we get through this difficult time.'


According to the Yale School of Medicine, there are two main types of lung cancer, one of which is non-small cell lung cancer, the most common type of lung cancer. Because the symptoms of non-small cell lung cancer are often mistaken for those of other common diseases, 80% of people diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer are already in an advanced stage.

Wojcicki and Troper were recently tragic victims of the loss of their 19-year-old son, Marco Troper, a freshman at the University of California, Berkeley, from a drug overdose in February 2024.

Google's Sundar Pichai also posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account, 'I am incredibly saddened to lose my best friend Susan Wojcicki after a two-year battle with cancer. More than anyone, she was a central part of Google's history, and it's hard to imagine the world without her. She was an incredible person, leader and friend, and had an enormous impact on the world. I am one of countless Googlers who are better people for knowing her. We will miss her dearly. My heart goes out to her family. May Susan rest in peace.'

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

One of Wojcicki's sisters, Anne Wojcicki, is CEO of genetic testing service 23andMe, and the other, Janet Wojcicki, is a professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. Wojcicki's mother, Esther Wojcicki, is a well-known educator and has written several books on how to raise successful children .