Susan Wojcicki, the former head of YouTube and a key figure at Google, has died at 56. Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai shared the news, saying he was deeply saddened by her passing after her two-year battle with lung cancer. Pichai praised Wojcicki, calling her integral to Google’s history.
Wojcicki was one of Google’s earliest employees, having helped the company start by renting her garage to founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1998. She left her job at Intel to join Google as its 16th employee and eventually led YouTube for nine years before stepping down in 2023 to focus on personal matters.
Despite her influential role, her time at YouTube was marked by controversy, particularly over how the platform managed misinformation during the Covid pandemic. In 2022, several fact-checking groups criticized YouTube for spreading false information.
Wojcicki was also a strong advocate for women in tech, highlighting the industry’s lack of female representation. Her husband, Dennis Troper, confirmed her death, saying she passed away after a long fight with lung cancer.
For more on this, BBC has reported extensively on her impactful career and the challenges she faced.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c75nwnvvqr1o