Former YouTube CEO's son dies in UC Berkeley dorm

BERKELEY, Calif. - A 19-year-old student who was found dead at UC Berkeley’s Clark Kerr Campus this week was the son of the former YouTube CEO, his grandmother posted on Facebook.

Esther Wojcicki posted that her "beloved grandson," Marco Troper, died on Tuesday. "Our family is devastated beyond comprehension."

In an interview with SFGate, she said she believes he died of a suspected overdose, but didn't know what drugs he had taken.

"We want to prevent this from happening to any other family," Wojcicki told SFGate. 

Troper was the son of tech executive and former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. His aunt, Susan’s sister Anne Wojcicki, co-founded the genetic testing company 23andMe and is its CEO. His grandmother Esther is sometimes referred to as the "Godmother of Silicon Valley" and founded the Palo Alto High School Media Arts Program. 

He was found unresponsive in his room at Clark Kerr on Tuesday at 4:23 p.m. , according to an emailed statement from campus spokesperson Janet Gilmore. The Berkeley Fire Department administered "life-saving measures" and UC Berkeley police officers also responded, Gilmore said, but the student was eventually declared dead at the scene. 

"Marco was the most kind, loving, smart, fun and beautiful human being," his grandmother posted, along with photos of a smiling blond boy and teen. 

She wrote that he was just getting started on his second semester of his freshman year at UC Berkeley majoring in math and was "truly loving it. "

She said 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," she wrote. "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."