19-year-old Marco Troper, son of former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, was found unresponsive in his dormitory at the University of California, Berkeley. Troper, a second-semester freshman at the school, was discovered on Tuesday, February 14, 2024, at the Clark Kerr Campus, a student housing complex.
The Berkeley Fire Department alerted the University of California Police Department, Berkeley, at about 4:23 p.m., reporting that emergency responders were “attempting life-saving measures” on Troper. Despite their efforts, he was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. Initial reports from campus police show no signs of foul play in Troper’s death.
Esther Wojcicki, Troper’s grandmother, and a well-respected author and educator renowned for her book “How to Raise Successful People,” shared with a local media outlet her suspicions that her grandson’s untimely death was due to a drug overdose.
The family is presently awaiting the results of a toxicology report to determine the exact cause of death, a process that could extend up to a month.
The grandmother expressed the family’s overwhelming sorrow through a heartfelt Facebook post, remembering Marco as “the most kind, loving, smart, fun, and beautiful human being.” She elaborated on his love for his math studies, his strong network of friends from Stern Hall and the Zeta Psi fraternity, and his thriving academic life.
“The loss has left the family ‘devastated beyond comprehension,’ grappling with the sudden void left by a young individual who had shown immense promise,” she said.
The tragedy has sparked discussions on the peril of drug use among young adults, with Esther Wojcicki urging an awareness campaign about the evolving danger of narcotics, potentially laced with lethal substances like fentanyl.
While the University of California, Berkeley has acknowledged Troper’s death, specifics about the cause remain undisclosed, pending investigation by the Alameda County coroner’s office.
Susan Wojcicki is widely recognized for her impactful tenure as YouTube’s CEO from 2014 to 2023 and her significant role at Google, where she developed key advertising and analytics products such as AdWords, AdSense, and Google Analytics.
Her early involvement with Google is highlighted by her renting her garage to its co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998, providing the nascent company with its first headquarters.
The family, with several members notable in the tech and education sectors, including Susan’s sisters, 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki and UC San Francisco professor Janet Wojcicki, is now grappling with this personal loss. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare.
