Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki died Friday, aged 56, after living for two years with non-small cell lung cancer, her family announced.
“It is with profound sadness that I share the news of Susan Wojcicki passing,” her husband Dennis Troper said on Facebook. “Susan was not just my best friend and partner in life, but a brilliant mind, a loving mother, and a dear friend to many.
“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.”
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Susan Wojcicki and husband Dennis Troper.
C FlaniganWojcicki was akin to Silicon Valley royalty as one of the first employees hired by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Her sister, Anne Wojcicki, was the founder and CEO of 23andMe, and married to Brin from 2007-2015.
It was Wojcicki who recommended that Google acquire YouTube, which was eventually purchased for $1.65 billion.
She became YouTube CEO in 2014, a position she held for nine years, and was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2015.
In February this year, Wojcicki’s 19-year-old son, Marco Troper, was found dead in his dorm room at the University of California, Berkeley.
SFGATE reported that he died of an overdose having consumed a high amount of alprazolam (the key drug in Xanax), as well as cocaine, amphetamine, and the antihistamine hydroxyzine.
Wojcicki and her husband Dennis Troper married in 1998 and had five children.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai paid tribute to Wojcicki on X, calling her an “incredible leader.”
“Unbelievably saddened by the loss of my dear friend (Susan Wojcicki) after two years of living with cancer,” Pichai said in a statement on X. “She is as core to the history of Google as anyone, and it’s hard to imagine the world without her.
“She was an incredible person, leader and friend who had a tremendous impact on the world and I’m one of countless Googlers who is better for knowing her. We will miss her dearly.”
