New Jersey

Funeral Plans Start for Jersey City Couple Killed in Crash Driving to Their Wedding

Kathryn Schurtz, 35, and her fiancé, Joseph Kearney, were driving on I-78 westbound in Windsor Township, Berks County, on Wednesday around 2:30 p.m. when the accident occurred.

What to Know

  • Loved ones are mourning a New Jersey couple who died in a chain reaction crash on I-78 in Berks County while driving to their wedding.
  • Kathryn Schurtz, 35, and her fiancé, Joseph Kearney, of Jersey City, both died in the accident
  • Schurtz was well known in her native Scotch Plains community; she was a head of platform partnerships for Oracle Data Cloud in NYC

Family and friends are mourning a Jersey City couple killed in a fiery chain reaction crash while driving to their wedding in Pittsburgh.

Kathryn Schurtz, 35, and her fiance Joseph Kearney were driving on Interstate 78 on Wednesday when they encountered heavy traffic from an earlier crash, state police said. A tractor-trailer was unable to stop and police said it pushed the couple's vehicle into another tractor-trailer. Their vehicle and two trucks caught fire. Schurtz and Kearney were killed and three others were hurt, state police said.

Schurtz lived in Jersey City, New Jersey, and was head of platform partnerships for Oracle Data Cloud in New York City.

Her obituary says she graduated from Union Catholic High School in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. She then attended George Washington University, where she received her liberal arts degree before earning an MBA from Notre Dame.

Her mother was a former Fanwood, New Jersey, councilwoman, according to the town's Facebook page.

Schurtz "will be remembered for her voracious appetite for reading, love of cooking, and trailblazing new adventures with Joseph," the obituary reads.

Her funeral will take place Tuesday in Pittsburgh.

A woman identifying herself as Kearney's aunt said in a Facebook post: "They were truly the brightest shining lights snuffed out way too soon."

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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