The son of Susan Wojcicki, former CEO of YouTube, has died. 19-year-old Marco Troper was a freshman at UC Berkeley’s campus. He was found unresponsive in his dormitory last week, Clark Kerr Campus, a spokesperson for the school, told PEOPLE.
Trooper was found in the afternoon, following which the Berkeley Fire Department alerted campus police. The department said they were “attempting life-saving measures” on Troper, as per a statement from the University of California Police Department, Berkeley. He was pronounced dead shortly after.
A cause of death has yet to be revealed. However, campus police ruled out foul play.
Esther Wojcicki, Troper’s grandmother, believes he died of a drug overdose. “He ingested a drug, and we don’t know what was in it. … One thing we do know, it was a drug,” she told the San Francisco outlet SFGATE.
Esther said Troper was “loving” and a “math genius.” “He was everything you could have wished for in a son and a grandson. He was destined to make a difference,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking.”
Esther took to Facebook to announce the tragic news. “Tragedy hit my family yesterday My beloved grandson Marco Troper, age 19 passed away yesterday. Our family is devastated beyond comprehension,” she wrote. “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.”
{{/usCountry}}Esther took to Facebook to announce the tragic news. “Tragedy hit my family yesterday My beloved grandson Marco Troper, age 19 passed away yesterday. Our family is devastated beyond comprehension,” she wrote. “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.”
{{/usCountry}}“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. Marco's life was cut too short. And we are all devastated, thinking about all the opportunities and life experiences that he will miss and we will miss together. Marco, we all love you and miss you more than you will ever know,” she added.
Esther told SFGATE that Troper’s loved ones"want to prevent this from happening to any other family.” “Tragedy is very hard to sustain,” she said. “It makes you want to hide in a closet and never come out, but I think the main thing is that we need to push forward to see what we can do to help other people so there won’t be any other kids who end up like Marco.”
Troper’s mother, Susan, was CEO of YouTube from 2014 until February 2023. At present, she serves in an advisory role to Google and Google-parent Alphabet.