The former CEO of YouTube, Susan Wojcicki, lost her 19-year-old son, who died unexpectedly after being found dead at the University of California, Berkeley.
A spokesperson for UC Berkeley, Janet Gilmore, said a student residing at the Clark Kerr Campus was found unresponsive on Tuesday around 4:23 p.m. local time on Tuesday.
The Berkeley Fire Department performed attempted “life-saving measures” on the student, but tragically, he died at the scene.
Gilmore said there was an investigation into the cause of death but noted there appeared to be no evidence of foul play.
Esther Wojcicki confirmed the passing of her grandson on Facebook:
“Tragedy hit my family yesterday My beloved grandson Marco Troper, age 19 passed away yesterday. Our family is devastated beyond comprehension.”
“Marco was the most kind, loving, smart, fun and beautiful human being.”
“He was just getting starting on his second semester of his freshman year at UC Berkeley majoring in math and was truly loving it.”
“He had a strong community of friends from his dorm at Stern Hall and his fraternity Zeta Psi and was thriving academically. At home, he would tell us endless stories of his life and friends at Berkeley.”
Esther added that her grandson “Ingested a drug, and we don’t know what was in it,
She added:
“One thing we do know, it was a drug. We want to prevent this from happening to any other family.”
“Kids in college, especially freshmen and sophomores, experiment with everything. I think this was an experiment that went wrong,” she said.
Journalist Megyn Kelly also commented on Troper’s death:
She wrote on X:
“Another senseless death of an American kid (the son of the former youtube ceo) from a pill, likely laced w/fentanyl – tho testing still tbd.”
“Pls read this article to your kids, folks. ONE PILL CAN KILL. God rest this young man.”
The Daily Mail reported that Troper graduated from Menlo School in Atherton, where he took a leading role in the school’s hackathon and tutored numerous students.
In an email, school head Than Healy described him as an “avid mathematician and computer scientist.”
“He was incredibly intelligent, curious, and creative — often showing up to class and community events with a bright smile and an infectious energy,” Healy wrote.
Marco’s mother, Susan Wojcicki, was best known for her role as CEO of YouTube from February 2014, until she stepped down in 2023.
Wojcicki was involved with Google and was one of its earliest employees.
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