Susan Wojcicki, one of Google’s earliest employees and the former chief executive of its video website YouTube, has died at 56.
Her husband Dennis Troper announced the news on Facebook. “It is with profound sadness that I share the news of Susan Wojcicki passing,” he said. “My beloved wife of 26 years and mother to our five children left us today after 2 years of living with non-small cell lung cancer.” He called her “a brilliant mind, a loving mother, and a dear friend to many”.
Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google parent Alphabet, said in a post on X that he was “unbelievably saddened”.
“She is as core to the history of Google as anyone, and it’s hard to imagine the world without her,” he said. “She was an incredible person, leader and friend who had a tremendous impact on the world.”
During Google’s earliest days, its founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin built the search engine from Wojcicki’s garage at her home in Menlo Park. In 1999, she became its 16th employee, running its advertising business for almost 15 years. After being involved in Google’s acquisition of YouTube in 2006, she ran the video site from 2014 until she stepped down last year.