N.J. Man Dies in Crash Weeks After Being Reunited with His Wife Following 18 Years Apart – Yahoo Entertainment

GoFundMe Roy Thomas and his family

A father, who immigrated to the United States from India to provide for his family, tragically died on Tuesday, just weeks after reuniting with his wife, according to loved ones.

Roy Thomas was killed this week after he was involved in a crash in Newark, New Jersey, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed in a press release.

Authorities said the 55-year-old Bergenfield man was driving a box truck “at a high rate of speed” when he collided with the back of a tractor-trailer. Thomas was pronounced dead at the scene just after 3 a.m. local time, the press release stated.

Tragically, the incident occurred just two weeks after Thomas had reunited with his wife, whom he hadn’t seen in 18 years, according to a GoFundMe page set up by family friend Reena Mathen.

On the fundraiser page, Mathen explained that in 2003, the father of three “hesitantly left his family behind in India to secure a better future for them.”

“Roy was the breadwinner of the family,” Mathen wrote, calling him a “hardworking, family man who worked night and day to achieve his dream of once again living together with his family in this land.”

“He lived away from his family for 18 years,” the family friend continued, noting that he was “finally able” to bring his wife to the U.S. “just 2 weeks before the incident.” Thomas was also able to bring his children to Canada on student visas and hoped to eventually live together as a family in the U.S.

At the time of his death, Mathen said Thomas was in the process of finding a home to share with his “beloved” wife after securing temporary hotel arrangements for her.

“That is when tragedy struck and the unfortunate happened. Roy was involved in a truck accident while at work and lost his life,” Mathen wrote on the page. “His dreams of living and being together with his family in the US came to an end.”

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“I am setting up this fund on behalf of his family so that his wife and kids can pick up the pieces and have some financial help for the funeral, as well as for any other [living] expenses they may encounter,” the family friend wrote on the GoFundMe page, which has raised over $92,000 as of Friday afternoon.

At this time, the investigation into Thomas’ death is active and ongoing, according to the Prosecutor’s Office. Essex County officials said the driver of the tractor-trailer remained at the scene and no charges have been filed.