What happened to former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki?

On Aug. 9, 2024, business executive Susan Wojcicki, died at 56 years old. The announcement was made by her husband, Dennis Troper, who posted on Facebook that his wife of 26 years lost her two-year battle with non-small cell lung cancer.

According to Yale Medicine, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type of lung cancer and accounts for 85 percent of lung cancers. Some of its symptoms include chest pain, persistent coughing, fatigue, and trouble breathing, and treatments include chemotherapy, radiation, or immunotherapy.

Susan Wojcicki’s background

In 1998, shortly after Google was incorporated, its founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, set up an office at Wojcicki’s garage in Menlo Park, California, which they rented for $1,700 monthly. Wojcicki got to know the two young men and listened to them talk about their ambitions for Google. Wojcicki became the company’s 16th employee and worked as the company’s first marketing manager. She was an integral part of Google’s foray into advertising and was involved in the development of Google AdSense.

In 2005, Wojcicki spearheaded Google Video’s launch and, the following year, she played a role in convincing Google’s founders to acquire YouTube for $1.65 billion. She became YouTube’s CEO in 2014 until Feb. 2023 when she announced that she would be stepping down from the role to focus on her health, her family, and passion projects. “The time is right for me, and I feel able to do this because we have an incredible leadership team in place at YouTube,” Wojcicki stated. Page and Brin praised Wojcicki for her contributions to Google and said she “has a unique place in Google history.”

Friends and family mourn Susan Wojcicki

Wojcicki’s death came just six months after her son, 19-year-old Marco Troper, died of an accidental drug overdose at his UC Berkeley dorm. Wojcicki’s husband, Dennis, described his wife as a loving mother and a good friend to many. Others in the industry, such as Tim Cook and Neal Mohan, offered their condolences on social media. Wojcicki is survived by her husband Dennis and their four children.