‘Her life is a lesson to others’

Photographs of Lauren Nicole Zussman that line the walls and coffee table of her parents’ Newport Coast home show a smiling young woman with a mane of thick dark hair and large brown eyes.

“She was beautiful, but it was what was on the inside that made her beautiful,” Lauren’s mother, Lynda Zussman said.

Lauren Nicole Zussman, an international fashion model signed with Ford Modeling Agency, was 26 when she collapsed and died while jogging in New York’s Central Park a year ago. She died eight years to the day she got sober after battling alcoholism in her teen years.

She was engaged and only a few credits short of getting a degree in life coaching from New York University at the time of her death.

“She died at her happiest — her demons were at bay,” Lynda said. “She wasn’t a saint, but she was an angel.”

Lynda has just finished a book on Lauren’s life called “Throw Me the Rope” in hopes of helping others young girls battling addiction.

Beginning work on “Throw Me the Rope” shortly after her daughter’s death, Lynda is now searching for a publisher for the book. She hopes to use proceeds from the book to start a foundation to help troubled teenage girls.

“Throw Me the Rope” is part memoir, part biography and part self-help book.

It follows Lauren’s journey from troubled teen to international fashion model who counseled other recovering alcoholics and volunteered her time working at food banks whenever she would visit her parents in Newport Beach.

Her parents hope telling Lauren’s story in a book will inspire other young women battling addiction.

“Anything Lauren tried, she was going to come first or second in,” Lauren’s father, David Zussman, said.

“A lot of people who are pretty don’t do very much but sit around and look good, but she was one tough cookie.”

The title of the book comes from a recurring bad dream Lauren had as a small child, where she was drowning in quicksand.

Lynda instructed her daughter to imagine her tossing her a rope to hold onto during the dream.

“The things I taught her about life she taught back to me and so much more,” Lynda said. “Now I need her to throw me the rope — her life is a lesson to others.”

Lynda and David continue to mourn for their daughter.

A small memorial to Lauren sits in the back yard of the couple’s Newport Coast home that includes a white chunk of rock Lynda found with Lauren on the beach one day, a statue of a fairy and a polished stone with the word “courage” carved on it.

Lynda believes a hummingbird that sometimes hovers around a bird feeder in the yard is Lauren’s spirit, coming back for a few minutes to say hello.

The bird often shows up when Lauren’s old friends come to visit.

“Losing her has been the worst thing that has ever happened in my life,” David said.

Lauren Nicole Zussman

 Zussman graduated from high school in Calabasas two years early and began attending classes at OCC at 16.

 At 18, she ended up in a hospital emergency room after a drinking binge over Memorial Day weekend at Lake Havasu. Zussman began attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and had been sober ever since.

 A model signed to the Ford Modeling Agency, Zussman worked for internationally known fashion designers like Thakoon, Proenza Schouler and Jill Stuart.

 Zussman was 26 when she died of cardiac arrest while jogging in New York’s Central Park last year.

 She was only a few credits short of getting a degree in life coaching from New York University at the time of her death.