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Oakland resident Emma Louis-Dreyfus, the younger half-sister of “Veep” star Julia Louis-Dreyfus, died of a seizure after overdosing on cocaine and alcohol while on a camping trip in the Sierra Nevada, the Daily Mail is reporting.
The 44-year-old San Mateo County social worker died on or around Aug. 13 at a campsite close to a popular hiking trail in South Yuba River State Park, north of Nevada City, Nevada County authorities told the Union newspaper in Grass Valley.
First responders went to a campsite, a quarter-mile upstream of Purdon Crossing, at about 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 13 after receiving reports of a woman having a seizure and becoming unresponsive. Three or four other people were with Louis-Dreyfus at the campsite.
Nevada County Chief Deputy Coroner Mike Sullivan ruled Emma Louis-Dreyfus’ death accidental following the results of a toxicology test. She had elevated amounts of cocaine and alcohol in her system, Sullivan told the Union.
News about Emma Louis-Dreyfus’ death comes as Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 57, admitted at an event earlier this month that she is “very lucky” to be alive following her diagnosis with breast cancer in September 2017, the Daily Mail reported.
It doesn’t appear that the sisters were close, though the “Seinfeld” actress was listed as one of Emma Louis-Dreyfus’ survivors in her obituary, the Daily Mail reported.
The women share the same father, the late French-born businessman Gerard “William” Louis-Dreyfus, who was the head of a powerful family commodities-trading firm and whose net worth was estimated to be $3.4 billion in 2006.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is the daughter of William Louis-Dreyfus’ first wife, Judith LeFever, a writer and special needs tutor, whom he divorced the year after the future actress was born in 1961.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, one of the most awarded actors in television history, ended up being raised by her mother and stepfather in Washington, D.C., where she attended high school at the prestigious Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland, the alma mater of Palo Alto University Professor Christine Blasey Ford.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus was among hundreds of Holton-Arms alumnae who signed a letter of support for Blasey Ford, who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of trying to sexually assault her when she was a student there.
I was class of ‘79 & signed this letter. https://t.co/5ssttu9uzT
— Julia Louis-Dreyfus (@OfficialJLD) September 17, 2018
Emma Louis-Dreyfus was born to William Louis-Dreyfus and his second wife, Phyllis Blankenship. She grew up in New York City, then attended Brown University, where she received a bachelor’s degree in psychology, according to her obituary. She moved to the Bay Area in 1998 and received a master’s degree in social work from UC Berkeley.
In her career, Emma Louis-Dreyfus had worked as a clinical social worker and family therapist and was a graduate fellow in infant-parent mental health. She had been employed as a bilingual clinician at Star Vista, an agency that provides counseling, crisis prevention, youth housing and other programs to people in San Mateo County, according to her Facebook page.
But like her older half-sister, it’s likely that Emma Louis-Dreyfus didn’t necessarily have to work, given her late family’s wealth.The Daily Mail reported that she died with an estate valued at $23 million. An Oct. 3 probate filing in Alameda County granted her mother, Phyllis Louis-Dreyfus, the authority over her estate.
Still, Emma Louis-Dreyfus was a “brilliant, progressive thinker and supporter of social justice.” In addition to enjoying a career that involved helping other people, she also had an entrepreneurial spirit. The Daily Mail also reported that in July she set up a company, Etta Duane Industries, for the purpose of developing property for marijuana production in California. She had invested $4.5 million into the project.
In addition to work, Emma Louis-Dreyfus loved to travel and to get into the outdoors, particularly in the Sierra Nevada and the Tetons, her obituary said, adding that one of her favorite getaways was the Yuba River.
