By John Burton
FAIR HAVEN – The community is in shock and mourning over the death of veteran Borough Councilman Jerome Koch on Sunday following his collision with a motor vehicle while he was cycling.
Koch, 63, was riding his bicycle westbound on River Road in the area of Elm Street on Saturday when he was struck by a vehicle traveling in the same direction, according to Sgt. Jesse Dykstra, a police spokesman.
Koch was taken by helicopter to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune, and died at approximately 5 p.m. on Sunday from his injuries, according to Mayor Benjamin Lucarelli.
Authorities are not releasing any additional details at this time, Dykstra said.
Lucarelli, a cycling enthusiast, said he was out riding Saturday and passed Koch on River Road shortly before the accident.
The investigation is ongoing, Lucarelli said.
“He was a smart guy with a very sharp wit. He cared about Fair Haven,” Lucarelli said about Koch, who had served nearly nine years on borough council. “His passing is tragic and he will be missed by all who knew and loved him.”
Koch had four children, with his wife Betsy, a teacher at the borough’s Knollwood School, and had lived in the borough since 1975. Before serving on council he had been a member of the borough planning board, according to the borough website.
Cycling is very much a part of the Fair Haven culture, with numerous children opting to use their bikes to get to and from school, as well as adult residents, like Lucarelli and Koch, who can be seen regularly riding along the borough’s streets.
The borough had been conducting its annual Tour De Fair Haven cycling race, which had been gaining in popularity from enthusiasts and the greater general public. The event, however, was abandoned, following the 2013 death of a competing cyclist Cole Porter who collided with a race official.
Lucarelli with the support of the Two River Council of Mayors, an informal group of area elected officials, has been advocating for a designated bike path through much of the Two River area, to enhance safety for those cycling for recreation and as transportation to and from school and work, and to encourage more people to use cycling as an alterative to cars.
“I do think it’s for the betterment of society, for everybody, if we stripe it, design it,” Lucarelli said of the path plan. “Everybody understands who’s using it and how to use it.
“I believe in it very strongly,” he stressed.
Lucarelli said he presented the regional plan the mayors’ council has endorsed to the county Board of Chosen Freeholders when the freeholders met here on Nov. 24. “They seemed to be very receptive to that,” he said of the freeholders.
The borough has applied for the state Department of Transportation’s Safe Route To Schools grant, which if the borough receives it, will allow officials to bolster education and other safety measures aimed a the school age population, Lucarelli said.
