One of the earliest Google employees, Susan Wojcicki, has died at the age of 56. The former CEO of YouTube stepped away from the key role early last year to focus on her family and health.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai shared the sad news of the passing of Susan Wojcicki, former CEO of YouTube, on Friday. Pichai revealed the news on social media and in a memo to Google employees shortly after Wojcicki’s husband, Dennis Troper, a Product Director at Google, announced her passing.
Wojcicki was among the very first Google employees and played a key role in the company’s history. In 2014, she took over YouTube as CEO, a role she stepped away from in February 2023 to focus on her family, health, and personal projects.
While she was supposed to keep working with Google and its parent company, Alphabet, as an advisor, she also pursued career challenges elsewhere. Just this summer, Wojcicki announced that she is joining the board of directors of the satellite company Planet Labs.
Dennis Troper revealed that his wife of 26 years and mother to their five children lived with “non-small cell lung cancer” for the past two years: “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 as we navigate this difficult time.”
Unfortunately, Wojcicki’s passing is not the only recent tragedy in their family.
