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19-year-old son of former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki died suddenly in UC Berkeley dorm: 'We are all devastated'
Hollie Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images

19-year-old son of former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki died suddenly in UC Berkeley dorm: 'We are all devastated'

The 19-year-old son of former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki died suddenly at a UC Berkeley dorm earlier this week.

A freshman student was found unresponsive on Tuesday afternoon inside a dormitory at UC Berkeley’s Clark Kerr Campus. Around 4:23 p.m., Berkeley Fire Department said they were "attempting life-saving measures" on the student.

Sadly, the Berkeley Fire Department pronounced the individual dead shortly after responding to the emergency.

Authorities did not release a cause of death. UC Berkeley campus police said there were no signs of foul play.

Adam Ratliff, a spokesperson for UC Berkeley, said counselors created "healing spaces" for students to deal with the victim who suddenly died.

Days later, the student who died suddenly was identified as Marco Troper – the son of the former YouTube CEO.

Troper's grandmother, Esther Wojcicki, remembered her grandson as "the most kind, loving, smart, fun and beautiful human being."

In a Facebook post, the grandmother said her family is "devastated beyond comprehension" by the sudden death.

"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," Wojcicki wrote. "Marco, we all love you and miss you more than you will ever know."

Wojcicki believes her grandson ingested a drug that killed him suddenly.

The distraught grandmother told SFGate, "He ingested a drug, and we don’t know what was in it. One thing we do know, it was a drug."

“We want to prevent this from happening to any other family,” she said.

"Tragedy is very hard to sustain," Wojcicki told the outlet. "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 was the son of Susan Wojcicki – who served as the CEO of YouTube from 2014 to 2023.

Marco was one of Wojcicki's five children with her husband, Dennis Troper.

Marco Troper was in the second semester of his freshman year in the university’s College of Letters & Science.

Officials at UC Berkeley said the death is under investigation.

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Paul Sacca

Paul Sacca

Paul Sacca is a staff writer for Blaze News.
@Paul_Sacca →