Tragedy has struck a prominent Silicon Valley family again. Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has just passed away, according to social media posts from her husband Dennis Tropper and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. She was 56.
Troper wrote on Facebook early Friday night, “It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of Susan Wojcicki. My beloved wife of 26 years and mother of five passed away today after a two-year battle with non-small cell lung cancer.”
“Susan was not only my best friend and partner in life, but also a brilliant mind, a loving mother, and a treasured friend to many. Her impact on our family and the world was immeasurable. Our hearts ache, but we are grateful for the time we had with her. Please keep our family in your thoughts as we navigate this difficult time.”
Pichai also sent a memo to Google employees late Friday.
“By now you have probably heard that Susan Wojcicki has passed away after a two year battle with lung cancer. As I write this, I still can't believe it's true. Susan was one of the most energetic and vibrant people I have ever met,” the note read.
According to Yale School of Medicine, non-small cell lung cancer is one of the two main types of lung cancer and the most common. According to a fact sheet related to the school, 80 percent of people diagnosed with the disease are already at an advanced stage because symptoms are often mistaken for more common diseases.
Wojcicki’s death follows another heartbreaking loss for Wojcicki and her husband in February of this year, when their 19-year-old son, Marco Tropper, died from an accidental overdose in his freshman dorm room at the University of California, Berkeley.
Wojcicki rose to fame as YouTube’s CEO, a role she held for nine years before stepping down in early 2023. In a blog post at the time, she said, “I’ve decided to start a new chapter focused on my family, my health, and personal projects that I’m passionate about.”
Wojcicki was one of Google’s first 20 employees when Google acquired YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion—an astronomical sum at the time. She famously got involved with the company after she lent her garage in Menlo Park, California to her friends Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who were both PhD students at Stanford at the time. (Google was reorganized in 2015, when Alphabet became the parent company.)
According to reports over the years, after observing YouTube's early popularity, Wojcicki, then a Google marketing manager, suggested to Page and Brin that Google acquire the video streaming platform.
Under her leadership, YouTube has become a multi-billion dollar cash cow for Google. In 2023, YouTube generated $8.1 billion in advertising revenue, representing about 10% of Alphabet’s total revenue.
Wojcicki’s family has deep ties to Silicon Valley and the Bay Area more broadly. One of her sisters is Anne Wojcicki, CEO of 23andMe. Another sister, Janet, is a professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. Their mother, Esther Wojcicki, is a renowned educator who has written extensively about raising successful children.
Here's the full text of Pichai's memo to Google employees:
Google employees,
By now, you’ve probably heard the news that Susan Wojcicki has passed away after a two-year battle with lung cancer. As I write this, it seems impossible that it could be true. Susan was one of the most dynamic and vibrant people I’ve ever met. Her loss is devastating to all of us who knew and loved her, to the thousands of Googlers she led over the years, and to the millions of people around the world who admired her, benefited from her advocacy and leadership, and felt the impact of the amazing things she built at Google, YouTube, and beyond.
Susan’s journey is inspiring in every way, from her rented garage to Larry and Sergey… to leading a team across consumer products and building an advertising business… to becoming CEO of one of the world’s most important platforms, YouTube. But she didn’t stop there. As one of the earliest Googlers and the first to take maternity leave, Susan used her position to create a better workplace for everyone. And in the years since, her advocacy for parental leave has set a new standard for businesses around the world. Susan also had a deep passion for education. She recognized early on that YouTube could be a learning platform for the world, and she championed “edutubers” who expanded the reach of STEM education to underserved communities.
Over the past two years, she has gone through some serious personal hardships, but has dedicated herself to making the world a better place through her charity work, which includes supporting research for the disease that ultimately took her life. I think it means a lot to her, and I’m so glad she took the time to do so.
Susan always put others first, and it was in her values and in her daily life. I will never forget the kindness she showed me when she treated me as a “Noogler” candidate 20 years ago. When I was interviewing at Google, she took me out for ice cream and a walk around the campus. I was fascinated by Google and Susan.
I feel very fortunate to have worked closely with Susan for so many years, as I am sure many of you do. She was absolutely beloved by the team here. Her time on earth was so short, but she cherished every moment.
We are in close contact with Susan’s family, including her husband and fellow Googler Dennis. We will share more about how we will celebrate her incredible life soon. In the meantime, let’s honor Susan’s memory and continue to build a Google she would be proud of.
