The Tech Industry Remembers Susan Wojcicki, Former YouTube CEO, After Her Passing at Age 56

Susan Wojcicki, former YouTube CEO and prominent tech leader, died at 56 after two years of living with non-small cell lung cancer.

“It is with profound sadness that I share the news of Susan Wojcicki passing,” wrote her husband, Dennis Troper, on Facebook on Friday. “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.”

Over the weekend, the tech community has been mourning her passing and celebrating her achievements.

Wojcicki joined YouTube as CEO in 2014, leading the company for nearly a decade before stepping down in February 2023 to “start a new chapter focused on my family, health, and personal projects I’m passionate about.” On stepping down, she said she’d continue working with YouTube teams, coaching members and meeting with creators.

But her influence stretches far further back.

Wojcicki was instrumental in helping build Google in its early years, and she has been credited with shaping some of its most successful products, including co-creating publisher monetization program AdSense, wrote CNBC.

In 1998, to help cover her mortgage, Wojcicki rented her Menlo Park, Calif., garage space for $1,700 per month to two Ph.D. students at Stanford University, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

At the time, Wojcicki was working in the marketing department at Intel. But after recognizing its early potential, she joined Google in 1999 as its 16th employee, moving up the ranks, growing the platform’s consumer and analytics products, and building its advertising business.

Besides growing two tech titans, Wojcicki was devoted to improving the workplace for women and parents, being the first to take parental leave at Google and advocating for policies in the workforce, wrote NPR.

“Susan always put others first, both in her values and in the day-to-day. I’ll never forget her kindness to me as a prospective ‘Noogler’ 20 years ago,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a statement Saturday. “During my Google interview, she took me out for an ice cream and a walk around campus. I was sold—on Google and Susan.”

In 2006, Wojcicki advocated for Google’s then-$1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube and oversaw its rapid expansion over the past decade, as well as navigating the platform’s battles controlling hate speech, misinformation, and inappropriate content.

“I had the good fortune of meeting Susan 17 years ago, when she was the architect of the DoubleClick acquisition,” wrote current YouTube CEO Neal Mohan in a social media post Friday night. “Her legacy lives on in everything she touched at Google and YouTube.”

“As one of the most important women leaders in tech—the first to lead a major company—she was committed to expanding opportunities for women throughout Silicon Valley,” former Meta chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg wrote in a social media post. “I don’t believe my career would be what it is today without her unwavering support.”

“She was one of Silicon Valley’s visionaries and she will be missed by so many,” Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote on X. “May she rest in peace.”