Susan Wojcicki, the technology pioneer and former YouTube boss who played a key role in the growth of Google, has died at the age of 56 after a battle with lung cancer, her husband announced on Friday.
Susan Wojcicki, one of Silicon Valley's most prominent women, spent nearly two decades building the Internet search engine Google started in her garage into a global technology giant.
Ms Wojcicki operated YouTube, which was bought by Google in 2006, for nearly a decade before stepping back last year to focus on personal and family projects as well as her health.
Her husband, Dennis Troper, wrote on Facebook that she had been suffering from lung cancer for two years.
My beloved wife of 26 years and mother of our five children left us today
He wrote.
Susan is not only my best friend and partner in life, but also a brilliant mind, a loving mother and a dear friend to many. His impact on our family and the world is immeasurable
Dennis Troper added.
Before becoming YouTube's CEO, she served as Google's vice president of advertising products.
Photo: Reuters / ERIC GAILLARD
Google was founded in 1998 in her Menlo Park, California garage by her friends Sergey Brin and Larry Page while Susan Wojcicki was working at Intel. A year later, she joined the company's staff at the age of 16.e employee and first marketing director.
At Google, she played a role in building the image search engine and worked on the acquisition of YouTube and advertising platform DoubleClick.
It's hard to imagine a world without her
Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote on the social media platform A wonderful person, leader and friend who had a huge impact on the world
.
Named CEO At YouTube in 2014, Susan Wojcicki introduced new types of advertising and helped the company grow by launching a streaming television service as viewers increasingly turned to the Internet for shows and movies.
She is also known for handling issues related to children's privacy, hate speech and the spread of misinformation, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
When she took a job at Google four months pregnant, she advocated for paid parental leave, arguing in a 2014 essay that companies should offer generous policies.
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