Bedminster, NJ mom, business owner dies in Florida car crash

A Bedminster woman was killed and her mother and daughter hospitalized in a head-on crash in Florida on Sunday morning.

The Florida Highway Patrol said the 59-year-old woman was a passenger in an SUV traveling west on State Highway 11 near Old Haw Creek Road in Bunnell, Florida around 10:50 a.m.

The SUV collided with an eastbound car that drifted into their lane, according to police. Police, who did not disclose the identity of the woman, said she was one of three women in the SUV. She she was not wearing a seat belt.

Business owner, wife and mom

A GoFundMe page identified the victim as Debbie Ashrafi and the other people in the SUV as her 41-year-old daughter Shana and her 79-year-old mother Shirley. They are hospitalized in critical condition, according to the page.

"No one can believe that Debbie is no longer with her family and that their plans for their future together have come to an end. We are all heartbroken for them," Carleen Kelly, the page's organizer wrote.

Donations will go towards the unexpected cost of travel and funeral arrangements. The family also plans to make a donation to the ASPCA, according to the GoFundMe page.

Ashrafi is also the owner of the Hidden Brook Farm horse farm in Bedminster.

It is at least the second crash in Florida that claimed the life of a New Jersey resident.

A 52-year-old man from Verona was killed on April 4 in Naples when his motorcycle went over the curb and overturned onto the median while riding on Vanderbilt Beach Road near Oakes Boulevard around 11 p.m.

Police did not disclose his identity pending the completion of an investigation.

Dan Alexander is a reporter for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at dan.alexander@townsquaremedia.com

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The 2002-2003 New Jersey Nets: The last time the NBA Finals came through NJ

In 2012 the Nets made their Brooklyn debut, but before that, New Jersey was the home of the Nets dating back to 1977.

The franchise was born in 1967, under the name the New Jersey Americans. They played their games in Teaneck as part of the American Basketball Association. One year later they moved to Long Island, becoming the New York Nets.

It was there the team won two ABA championships in 1973-74 and 1975-76. The very next year the Nets, along with three other basketball franchises, were absorbed into the NBA as part of a merger deal, abolishing the ABA.

When the Nets first moved to New Jersey, they played their home games at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway. Then in 1981, they moved into the home many of us remember them in the most, the Brendan Byrne Arena in the Meadowlands in East Rutherford (later named the Continental Airlines Arena, then Izod center).

After years of losing, The Nets made it to two straight NBA Finals in 2001-02 and 2002-03. In 2002-03, the final time they sniffed the championship, the team lost to the San Antonio Spurs.

It would be the last time the Nets sniffed the title, but their efforts added them to New Jersey lore forever.

Filed Under: Bedminster, Somerset County

Categories: New Jersey News