Tragedy as former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki’s son, 19, is found dead inside his UC Berkeley dorm – as grieving grandmother says ‘our family is devastated beyond comprehension’

The 19-year-old son of former YouTuber Susan Wojcicki was found dead at the University of California, Berkeley, as his family suspects a drug overdose was the cause.

Marco Troper, a freshman at UC Berkeley, was found unconscious in the Clark Kerr student complex Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.

Esther Wojcicki, Troper’s grandmother, suggested the 19-year-old student may have succumbed to a drug overdose after confirming his death and identity.

Ester told it SFGATE“He took some medicine and we don’t know what was in it,” she said. “We do know one thing: it was a drug.”

UC Berkeley spokesperson Janet Gilmore said there were no signs of foul play, but did not say whether Troper died of a drug overdose.

“The Berkeley Fire Department advised UCPD that they were attempting lifesaving measures on the victim. UCPD responded and the Berkeley Fire Department pronounced the subject deceased,” Gilmore wrote in a statement.

In a heartbreaking post on social media, Esther confirmed the identity of the student who had just started his second semester of his freshman year.

‘Yesterday tragedy struck my family. My beloved grandson Marco Troper, 19 years old, passed away yesterday. Our family is devastated beyond words,” the grieving grandmother wrote.

‘Marco’s life was cut too short. And we are all devastated to think of all the opportunities and life experiences he will miss, and that we will miss together,” Esther continued.

Troper studied mathematics and, according to his grandmother, had a strong community of friends from his dorm in Stern Hall and his fraternity Zeta Psi.

“At home he told us endless stories about his life and his friends in Berkeley,” she wrote. ‘

The grandmother also described Troper as an “all-round athlete,” who played a variety of sports including boxing, swimming and tennis.

“He was everything you could want in a son and a grandson. He was destined to make a difference, it’s heartbreaking.’

The family is awaiting a toxicology report to determine the cause of death, but Esther said it appeared to be an accidental drug overdose.

‘Kids in college, especially freshmen and sophomores, experiment with all kinds of things. “I think this was an experiment gone wrong,” she said Palo Alto Daily Mail.

Before attending UC Berkeley, Troper graduated from Menlo School in Atherton, where he played a leading role in the school’s hackathon and tutored countless students.

Headmaster Than Healy described him in an email as an “avid mathematician and computer scientist.”

“He was incredibly intelligent, curious and creative – often appearing at class and community events with a beaming smile and infectious energy,” Healy wrote.

Troper is also survived by four siblings and his father, Dennis Troper.

His mother, Susan, a former CEO of YouTube and one of Google’s oldest employees, resigned from her leadership position last year to focus on family.

She wrote in a blog post last February: “I have decided to step back as head of YouTube and start a new chapter focused on my family, health and personal projects that I am passionate about.”

She served as Google’s first marketing manager in 1999 and became CEO of YouTube in 2014. After her resignation, she moved to an advisory role at both Google and Alphabet.

Susan has not commented on Troper’s death.

Esther hopes Troper’s tragedy can help educate people and prevent similar incidents for other families.

“I think the most important thing is that teens and students need to know that today’s medications are not the same as yesterday’s medications, they are often laced with fentanyl,” she said.

“So even though they think they know what they’re doing, when they look at the national statistics, they can see that more people are dying from drug overdoses than from the pandemic.”