She Made It! Susan Wojcicki, 65, died in her 60th birthday on Friday, April 26, 2012, in Santa Clara, California
She battled non-small cell lung cancer in her final years, and kept her low-key ethic. On Friday, Troper said that Susan Wojcicki died at 56.
Even though the structure of the world is inevitable, people feel like it is built by people, and what Susan has built is extremely special and head and shoulders above what others have created. I’m so sad to have lost her,” Hank Green wrote on X.
In Santa Clara, where she was born, her father was a physicist. She made a difference in the world by developing her passion for innovation. (Her two younger sisters, Anne and Janet, also went on to become powerhouses in their own respective fields.)
Later, Wojcicki played a major role in Google’s purchase of YouTube in 2006 when it was just a small startup. She was appointed YouTube’s CEO in 2014 and led its explosive growth over the past decade. She also oversaw the platform as it grappled with hate speech, misinformation and inappropriate content.
“What have we learned from living in Silicon Valley?” Susan Wojcicki, former YouTube CEO and Silicon Valley visionary, dies at 56
Each challenge that came my way benefited so many people’s lives because it had a mission of finding information, telling stories, and supporting creators, artists and small businesses. I’m so proud of everything we’ve achieved. She said in the post that it had been “exploding, meaningful, and all-consuming.”
20 years ago, she was kind to me as a prospective ‘Noogler’. She took me out for ice cream and a stroll around campus after my interview. He said that he was sold by both Susan and Google.
A year before her graduation speech, she was known for her speech at JohnHopkins University. There, she looked at her career and opportunities.
“Rarely are opportunities presented to you in the perfect way, in a nice little box with a yellow bow on top,” she said. “Opportunities, the good ones, are difficult to understand and messy.” They are risky. They challenge you.”
Source: Susan Wojcicki, former YouTube CEO and Silicon Valley visionary, dies at 56
YouTuber Neal Mohan and Mark Benioff: A Legacy of a Great Leader and a Philanthropic Person: In memory of Karen Wojcicki
On Saturday, the head of YouTube, Neal Mohan, who assumed the role after Wojcicki, wrote on X that YouTube lost “a teammate, mentor, and friend. … I am eternally grateful for her guidance and friendship. I will miss her tremendously. My sympathies go out to her family and friends.
Marc Benioff, CEO and co-founder of Salesforce, described Wojcicki — who was on Salesforce’s board — as a trailblazer and an example of great leadership. She was a great leader with grace and vision, lighting up every interaction. He said that her kind heart, wise counsel and philanthropic spirit touched countless lives.
John Green said, “She was (very quietly) the single biggest donor to our project supporting maternal health in Sierra Leone. She didn’t ask for anything in return for her support of our project and many others. An exceptional leader and person.”
The unassuming house on Santa Margarita Avenue in Menlo Park, California, had been empty for only a couple of years when I visited in 2008, but the ghosts were still there. This was the location where Larry Page and Sergey Brin started their company. Out the window was the backyard with the hot tub and the house was carpeted with code in the back of it.
