Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has handed away at age 56

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Tragedy has once more struck a well-known Silicon Valley household. Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki simply handed away, in line with social media posts by her husband, Dennis Troper, and by Google CEO Sundar Pichai. She was 56.

Wrote Troper on Fb earlier Friday night time, “It’s with profound disappointment that I share the information of Susan Wojcicki passing. My beloved spouse of 26 years and mom to our 5 kids left us as we speak after 2 years of residing with non-small cell lung most cancers.”

“Susan was not simply my finest good friend and associate in life, however an excellent thoughts, a loving mom, and a pricey good friend to many. Her influence on our household and the world was immeasurable. We’re heartbroken, however grateful for the time we had together with her. Please maintain our household in your ideas as we navigate this troublesome time.”

Pichai additionally despatched a word to Google staff late Friday.

“By now you’ll have heard the information that Susan Wojcicki has handed away after two years of residing with lung most cancers. Whilst I write this it feels not possible to me that it’s true. Susan was probably the most lively and vibrant folks I’ve ever met,” the word mentioned.

Non-small cell lung most cancers is certainly one of two main varieties of lung most cancers and the commonest form, in line with the Yale Faculty of Medication. As a result of its signs are sometimes mistaken for widespread sicknesses, 80 p.c of individuals identified with the situation have already progressed to superior levels, in line with a truth sheet related to the college.

Wojcicki’s passing comes on the heels of one other heart-breaking loss for Wojcicki and her husband in February of this 12 months, when their 19-year-old son, Marco Troper, died of an unintended overdose in his dorm room on the College of California, Berkeley, the place he was a freshman.

Wojcicki rose to fame because the CEO of YouTube, a job she held for 9 years earlier than stepping down in early 2023, saying in a weblog submit on the time that she had “determined to start out a brand new chapter centered on my household, well being and private tasks I’m captivated with.”

Wojcicki was among the many first 20 staff of Google, which went on to amass YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion — what appeared like an astronomical quantity on the time. She famously turned concerned with the corporate after renting the storage of her Menlo Park, Calif., dwelling to pals Larry Web page and Sergey Brin, who have been Ph.D. college students at Stanford on the time. (Google was restructured in 2015, at which level Alphabet turned its father or mother firm.)

In accordance with experiences through the years, it was after observing the early traction of YouTube that Wojcicki herself — then a advertising and marketing supervisor at Google — proposed to Web page and Brin that Google purchase the video streaming platform.

Underneath her management, YouTube turned a multibillion greenback money generator for Google. In 2023, YouTube posted $8.1 billion in income by way of advert gross sales — practically 10% of Alphabet’s complete income.

Wojcicki’s household has deep ties to Silicon Valley and to the Bay Space extra broadly. Certainly one of her sisters is 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki. One other sister, Janet, is a professor of pediatrics on the College of California, San Francisco. In the meantime, their mom Esther Wojcicki, is a famend educator who has written extensively on how one can increase profitable kids.

Right here is the total memo Pichai despatched to Google staff:

Googlers,

By now you’ll have heard the information that Susan Wojcicki has handed away after two years of residing with lung most cancers. Whilst I write this it feels not possible to me that it’s true. Susan was probably the most lively and vibrant folks I’ve ever met. Her loss is devastating for all of us who know and love her, for the 1000’s of Googlers she led through the years, and for thousands and thousands of individuals everywhere in the world who seemed as much as her, benefited from her advocacy and management, and felt the influence of the unbelievable issues she created at Google, YouTube, and past.

Susan’s journey, from the storage she rented to Larry and Sergey … to main groups throughout shopper merchandise and constructing our Advertisements enterprise … to changing into the CEO of YouTube, one of many world’s most important platforms, is inspiring by any measure. However she didn’t cease there. As one of many earliest Googlers — and the primary to take maternity depart — Susan used her place to construct a greater office for everybody. And within the years that adopted, her advocacy round parental depart set a brand new normal for companies in every single place. Susan was additionally deeply captivated with training. She realized early on that YouTube could possibly be a studying platform for the world and championed “edutubers” — particularly those that prolonged the attain of STEM training to underserved communities.

During the last two years, at the same time as she handled nice private difficulties, Susan devoted herself to creating the world higher by way of her philanthropy, together with supporting analysis for the illness that in the end took her life. I do know that was very significant to her and I’m so glad she took the time to do it.

Susan all the time put others first, each in her values and within the day after day. I’ll always remember her kindness to me as a potential “Noogler” 20 years in the past. Throughout my Google interview she took me out for an ice cream and a stroll round campus. I used to be bought – on Google and Susan.

I really feel so lucky to have spent so a few years working with Susan intently, as I’m certain a lot of you do — she was completely cherished by her groups right here. Her time on earth was far too brief, however she made each minute rely.

We’re in shut contact with Susan’s household, together with her husband and fellow Googler, Dennis. We’ll share extra quickly about how we’re going to have fun her unbelievable life. Within the meantime, let’s honor Susan’s reminiscence by persevering with to construct a Google she could be pleased with.



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