Susan Wojcicki, Former YouTube CEO, Dies at 56 After Battle with Lung Cancer

Susan Wojcicki, the former CEO of YouTube and a long-time executive at Google, passed away on Saturday at the age of 56 after a two-year battle with lung cancer. Her death marks the end of a remarkable career that left an indelible mark on the technology industry and set a standard for women in leadership roles in Silicon Valley.

Wojcicki’s husband, Dennis Troper, shared the news in a heartfelt Facebook post, expressing the profound loss felt by her family. “It is with profound sadness that I share the news of Susan Wojcicki’s passing. My beloved wife of 26 years and mother to our five children left us today after two years of living with non-small cell lung cancer,” Troper wrote. He highlighted her resilience and dedication, noting that even in the face of great personal difficulty, she remained committed to making the world a better place through her philanthropic efforts, particularly in supporting research for the very disease that claimed her life.

Susan Wojcicki’s journey in the tech world began in 1999 when she joined Google as one of its earliest employees. At the time, Google was a fledgling search engine, but Wojcicki recognized its potential and became instrumental in its growth. She played a pivotal role in the development of Google’s advertising products, including AdSense, which became a major revenue driver for the company. Her success in this area solidified her reputation as a key player in Google’s ascent to becoming one of the world’s most powerful tech companies.

In 2006, Wojcicki was a driving force behind Google’s acquisition of YouTube, a move that would later prove to be one of the company’s most significant strategic decisions. Google purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion, and under Wojcicki’s leadership as CEO, which began in 2014, the platform grew into the world’s largest video-sharing site, with over two billion monthly users. Her tenure at YouTube was marked by the platform’s exponential growth, as well as its increasing influence on global culture, media, and politics.

After nearly a decade at the helm of YouTube, Wojcicki stepped down in 2023 to focus on her health, family, and personal projects. In her farewell blog post, she reflected on her journey with the company, writing, “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 …. It would be one of the best decisions of my life.” She expressed gratitude for the opportunities she had at Google and YouTube, and for the chance to work alongside some of the brightest minds in the industry.

Upon her departure from YouTube, Wojcicki was succeeded by Neal Mohan, her long-time deputy and a senior advertising and product executive at Google. Mohan, in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, paid tribute to Wojcicki, stating, “Today we at YouTube lost a teammate, mentor, and friend, Susan Wojcicki.”

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, also shared his condolences in a blog post, praising Wojcicki’s contributions to the tech industry and her dedication to philanthropy. “Over the last two years, even as she dealt with great personal difficulties, Susan devoted herself to making the world better through her philanthropy, including supporting research for the disease that ultimately took her life,” Pichai wrote.

Susan Wojcicki’s legacy in the tech world is profound. She was a pioneer who helped shape the internet as we know it today, and her influence will be felt for years to come. Beyond her professional achievements, she was also a devoted wife and mother, and her passing is a significant loss to both her family and the broader tech community.