Kendall Park woman dies in car accident
By: Sharlee Joy DiMenichi
An 80-year-old Kendall Park woman died of injuries she suffered in a two-car crash on Route 1 near Promenade Boulevard at 11 a.m. Jan. 16, police said.
Rita Winick, a passenger in the front seat of a 1989 Toyota Camry driven by her husband, William, 82, was pronounced dead at 11:56 a.m. at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where she was taken by the Kendall Park First Aid Squad, police said.
Ms. Winick had been wearing only the shoulder strap and not the lap belt of her seat belt and suffered severe blunt force trauma as a result of not being properly restrained, Detective James Ryan of the South Brunswick Police Department said Tuesday.
Mr. Winick was taken to Robert Wood for evaluation, police said. Mr. Winick had complained of chest pains after the accident, police at the scene said.
The Camry hit a 2000 Toyota Camry-Solara driven by Eiko Kahn, 73, of South Brunswick. Ms. Kahn was not injured, police said.
Southbound traffic on Route 1 was restricted to one lane for about an hour as police examined the scene. Glass chunks and strips of rubber littered the right lane where the red Camry sat, its hood bent like a question mark and its grill smashed flat. The Camry-Solara, also red, sat on the shoulder about a dozen yards ahead with two gashes in its rear bumper.
Monday, friends from the 50 Plus Group at B’nai Tikvah in North Brunswick remembered Ms. Winick of Savage Road as an uplifting and kind person. Ms. Winick worked with group members to knit and crochet blankets, hats and mittens for mothers and children served by the state Division of Youth and Family Services.
"She was a very warm individual," said Ann Cherson, a 50 Plus member.
Another group member expressed similar sentiments.
"She was friendly, she was outgoing. She was a great lady," said Annette Kramer, a 50 Plus member who knew Ms. Winick for 20 years. "I always found her to be full of life. I never heard her say anything bad about anybody."

