Head of New Jersey cancer society killed by falling tree

COLTS NECK TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — The executive director of New Jersey's chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society was killed Saturday afternoon when a tree fell on her vehicle during a storm.

Stacey Weathers, 46, of Tinton Falls, was in her Mustang convertible on Route 34 in Colts Neck Township when the tree fell on her, police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Friends and colleagues said the woman's death is a huge loss for people with blood cancer. She helped raise $7 million at the society to support patients and fund cancer research.

"She would take every death, every loss of life to blood cancer, she would take it as if it was one of her own family," Michael Shevlin, the chairman of the charity's board, told NJ.com. "She had an unending passion for finding a cure."

Her daughter, Emilie Boman, said Weathers "loves seeing other people happy."

"She never did it for the name, she just wanted to help people," said Boman, 19.

It wasn't immediately clear what caused the tree to fall and strike Weathers' vehicle, authorities said. The accident remains under investigation.