Tech Pioneer Susan Wojcicki, best known as CEO of YouTube, passed away on August 9 after being ill with cancer. She was 56.

Her husband, Dennis Troper, posted the sad news yesterday on Facebook.

“It is with profound sadness that I share the news of Susan Wojcicki passing. My beloved wife of 26 years and mother to our five children left us today after 2 years of living with non-small cell lung cancer,” Troper wrote. “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,” he concluded.

Susan Wojcicki was a well known American technology executive who served as the CEO of YouTube from February 2014 to February 2023. Born on July 5, 1968, in Santa Clara County, California, Wojcicki grew up in a family deeply embedded in education and technology. Her father, Stanley Wojcicki, is a physics professor at Stanford University, and her mother, Esther Wojcicki, is a teacher and journalist. Susan Wojcicki’s early exposure to the tech world set the stage for her future career.

Wojcicki attended Harvard University, where she studied history and literature, graduating with honors in 1990. She later earned a master’s degree in economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Her career in tech began at Intel Corporation, where she worked in marketing. However, her journey truly accelerated when she joined Google in 1999 as their first marketing manager. Wojcicki was the sixteenth hire at Google. She played a crucial role in the company’s early growth.  She worked on the development of popular products such as Google Images and Google Books. One of her most notable achievements was overseeing the acquisition of YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion, a decision that proved to be very beneficial for Google.

In 2014, Wojcicki became the CEO of YouTube, guiding the platform through a period of significant growth and transformation. Under her leadership, YouTube expanded its user base to over 2 billion logged-in monthly users and launched several successful initiatives, including YouTube Premium, YouTube TV, and the YouTube Music app.

Wojcicki faced several challenges during her career, including content moderation issues, the spread of misinformation, and controversies surrounding YouTube’s ad policies.

Beyond her professional accomplishments, Wojcicki is known for her advocacy for diversity and inclusion in the tech industry. She has been vocal about the need for greater representation of women in technology.

Wojcicki is survived by her husband and four children. Their son Marco, 19, died of a drug overdose in February.

Rest in Peace.