Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki dies at 56 after battling cancer

Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, one of Google’s first female employees, has died at age 56 after a two-year battle with cancer.

In his post sharing the news of his wife’s death, Dennis Troper said that Mrs. Wojcicki was “not only my best friend and life partner, but also a brilliant mind, a loving mother, and a close friend to many people.”

“It is with deep sadness that I share the news of the death of Susan Wojcicki. My beloved wife of 26 years and mother of our five children passed away today after two years of living with non-small cell lung cancer,” Mr. Troper wrote in a Facebook post.

“Her impact on our family and the world was immeasurable. We are heartbroken but grateful for the time we had with her. Please keep our family in your thoughts during this time.”

Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a blog post: “Over the past two years, even as she struggled with great personal challenges, Susan dedicated herself to making the world a better place through her philanthropic work, including supporting research into the disease that ultimately took her life.”

Mr. Pichai added on X: “Incredibly saddened to lose my dear friend Susan Wojcicki after two years of living with cancer. She is as important to the Google story as anyone and it’s hard to imagine a world without her.”

One of the most high-profile women in technology, Ms. Wojcicki joined Google in 1999, becoming one of the first female employees of the online search leader, years before acquiring YouTube. Google bought YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion.

Prior to becoming CEO of YouTube in 2014, Ms. Wojcicki served as Senior Vice President of Advertising Products at Google.

After nine years as an executive, Ms. Wojcicki stepped down from her YouTube role in 2023 to focus on “family, health and personal projects.” She was replaced by her deputy, Neal Mohan, a senior director of advertising and product who joined Google in 2008. At the time, Ms. Wojcicki had planned to take an advisory role at Alphabet, Google’s parent company.

“Twenty-five years ago, I made the decision to join two graduate students at Stanford University who were building a new search engine. Their names were Larry and Sergey… It would have been one of the best decisions of my life,” Wojcicki wrote in a blog post the day she left YouTube, referring to Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

“Today we at YouTube lost a teammate, mentor, and friend, Susan Wojcicki,” Mohan said in a post on X.

Earlier in her career, Wojcicki was credited with persuading Google executives to buy YouTube. In 2015, TIME magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.