John Nash, 86, inspiration for the film 'A Beautiful Mind,' and wife die in car accident on New Jersey Turnpike: police

Famed mathematician John Nash, whose struggles with schizophrenia inspired the movie "A Beautiful Mind," died Saturday with his wife in a car crash on the New Jersey Turnpike.

Nash, 86, and his wife Alicia Nash, 82, were on their way back to their Princeton home after a trip to Norway to receive an award.
The taxi cab carrying the couple from Newark Airport was traveling southbound on the New Jersey Turnpike at 4:30 p.m. Saturday when the vehicle got into an accident, Sgt. 1st Class Gregory Williams told the Daily News.
Russell Crowe, who portrayed Nash in the 2001 Oscar-winning film said he was “stunned.”
“An amazing partnership,” he wrote of Nash and his wife. “Beautiful minds, beautiful hearts.”
The driver of the Ford Crown Victoria taxi carrying the couple was in the left lane trying to pass another vehicle when the cab veered out of control, according to State Police Sgt. Gregory Williams.
The taxi struck a guardrail, as did the other car, a Chrysler. Both Nash and his wife were ejected from their seats, Williams said.
They apparently were not wearing seatbelts, he said.

 

 FRED PROUSER/REUTERS

Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Forbes Nash and his wife Alicia at the 74th annual Academy Awards in 2002. The couple died in a car accident on the New Jersey Turnpike Saturday.

According to the preliminary investigation, Nash and his wife may have been hit by the second car after they were thrown to the ground, authorities said.
The taxi driver was identified by NJ.com as Tark Girgis, 46, of Elizabeth, New Jersey.
First responders pulled him from the wreckage and he was flown to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
He is not expected to face charges, NJ.com reported.
A female passenger in the Chrysler complained of pain and was taken to the University Medical Center of Princeton in Plainsboro Township, cops said.
Nash, who shared the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, taught at Princeton University. His stunned colleagues reacted to the news Sunday.
“We are saddened by news of the untimely passing of John Nash and his wife and great champion, Alicia,” said Princeton president Christopher Eisgruber.

Source:

nydailynews.com