'A Beautiful Mind' mathematician John Nash to be honored today

MONROE TOWNSHIP (WABC) -- There will be an event in honor of John Nash Wednesday afternoon.

The event was to celebrate Nash's winning the Abel Prize, but it will now include a viewing of the movie "A Beautiful Mind" at the Princeton Garden Theater, followed by a dinner.

The movie was inspired by Nash's life. The event will be for club members only. His funeral will be private, per the Mather-Hodge Funeral Home in Princeton.

The Nobel Prize-winning mathematician died in a taxi crash along with his wife in New Jersey over the weekend. John Forbes Nash Jr. was 86. According to the New Jersey State Police, Nash and his wife of nearly 60 years, Alicia, were in a crash Saturday at about 4:30 p.m. on the New Jersey Turnpike in Monroe Township.

The driver of the cab, a Ford Crown Victoria, lost control while passing a Chrysler which was in the center lane.

The cab crashed into the guard rail, and both Nashes were ejected. They were pronounced dead at the scene at 5:18 p.m.

Their cab driver was identified as Tarek Girgis, 46, of Elizabeth. He needed to be extricated from the vehicle and was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the Chrysler is identified as Lisa Hoyt. Her car also crashed into the guard rail. She suffered pain and bruising.

The Nashes were on their way home from Newark Airport having just flown back from Norway where John Nash was awarded the Abel Prize for mathematics on Tuesday.

Police say it is still unclear whether the victims were wearing seatbelts.

(Some information from the Associated Press.)