Sue Wojcicki, who used to be CEO of YouTube, has died at the age of 56 after a two-year battle with lung cancer.

A little more than a year before she died, the former head of YouTube said she would be leaving the company to start a “new chapter.”

This is it—after almost 25 years at YouTube, I’ve decided to step down as CEO and focus on my family, health, and personal projects I’m really interested in,” Wojcicki wrote in a letter to employees in February 2023.

Wojcicki, who had been CEO for nine years, said it was “right” for her to step down.

She said, “I feel able to do this because we have an amazing leadership team in place at YouTube.” She also said she would help with the transition before she left.

It was planned that Neal Mohan would replace Wojcicki.

At the time, Wojcicki said she wasn’t really leaving YouTube because she was going to become an advisor to Google and Alphabet.

“I always wanted to work for a company whose goal was to make the world a better place,” the CEO at the time told his staff.

“Your vision gave me the chance to live that dream. Being a part of it has been an honor, and I can’t wait for what comes next.

She had died, as her husband Dennis Troper said in a Facebook post.

Troper wrote, “It is with deep sadness that I share the news of Susan Wojcicki’s death.”

“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.”

Trager went on to say that Wojcicki was his life partner and best friend. He also called her a “brilliant mind, a loving mother, and a dear friend to many.”

He wrote, “Her effect on our family and the world was immeasurable,” and he included several pictures of the two of them together over the course of their relationship.

“We’re sad, but thankful for the time we spent with her.” As we go through this hard time, please keep our family in your thoughts.

Five kids were born to them together, including Marco Troper, 19, who tragically died earlier this year.

In February 2024, Marco’s grandmother, Esther Wojcicki, wrote on Facebook that the young man had died.

They were married for 18 years, since 1998.

In the early 2000s, both were well-known in the tech world, and both joined the Google team early on.

CNN says Wojcicki was hired by Google as their sixteenth employee before she worked at YouTube.

After that, she worked for the best tech company for almost 25 years.

Ivana Wojcicki was an important part of starting Google long before she got hired by the company.

In 1998, she let co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin use her garage in Silicon Valley. That’s where the company got its start.

Early Saturday morning, Sundar Pichai, who is now the CEO of Google, said he was sorry about Wojcicki’s death.

“Unbelievably saddened by the loss of my dear friend @SusanWojcicki after two years of living with cancer,” Pichai said on X.

“She is so important to Google’s history that it’s hard to picture life without her.”

“She was a great person, leader, and friend who made the world a better place. I’m one of many Googlers who is better for having known her.” We’ll really miss her. We are thinking about her family. Susan, rest in peace.”