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. As TechCrunch mentioned, in February of this year, their 19-year-old son died of an accidental overdose in his dorm room.
Sundar Pichai praised Wojcicki’s impact on the company and the role she played in making it successful: “She is as core to the history of Google as anyone, and it’s hard to imagine the world without her.” You can find Pichai’s full memo to Google employees below:
Googlers,
By now you may have heard the news that Susan Wojcicki has passed away after two years of living with lung cancer. Even as I write this it feels impossible to me that it’s true. Susan was one of the most active and vibrant people I have ever met. Her loss is devastating for all of us who know and love her, for the thousands of Googlers she led over the years, and for millions of people all over the world who looked up to her, benefited from her advocacy and leadership, and felt the impact of the incredible things she created at Google, YouTube, and beyond.
Susan’s journey, from the garage she rented to Larry and Sergey … to leading teams across consumer products and building our Ads business … to becoming the CEO of YouTube, one of the world’s most significant platforms, is inspiring by any measure. But she didn’t stop there. As one of the earliest Googlers -- and the first to take maternity leave -- Susan used her position to build a better workplace for everyone. And in the years that followed, her advocacy around parental leave set a new standard for businesses everywhere. Susan was also deeply passionate about education. She realized early on that YouTube could be a learning platform for the world and championed "edutubers" -- especially those who extended the reach of STEM education to underserved communities.
Over the last two years, even as she dealt with great personal difficulties, Susan devoted herself to making the world better through her philanthropy, including supporting research for the disease that ultimately took her life. I know that was very meaningful to her and I’m so glad she took the time to do it.
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. During my Google interview she took me out for an ice cream and a walk around campus. I was sold - on Google and Susan.
I feel so fortunate to have spent so many years working with Susan closely, as I’m sure many of you do -- she was absolutely loved by her teams here. Her time on earth was far too short, but she made every minute count.
We’re in close touch with Susan’s family, including her husband and fellow Googler, Dennis. We will share more soon about how we"re going to celebrate her incredible life. In the meantime, let’s honor Susan’s memory by continuing to build a Google she would be proud of.
-Sundar