E.B. road named for fallen Army soldier
BY VINCENT TODARO Staff Writer

EAST BRUNSWICK - A township road has been renamed after Seth Dvorin, a former resident who was killed while fighting in Iraq.

The Township Council voted recently to change the name of David Lane, which is between Appleby Lane and Deerfield Road, to Seth Dvorin Lane, in memory of the fallen U.S. Army lieutenant.

The council also changed the name of Evergreen Boulevard between Cranbury Road and the boulevard's westerly end, to Veterans Way.

Mayor William Neary told the Sentinel that residents in Dvorin's former neighborhood approached him with an idea to honor him. Although Neary liked the idea of renaming a street after Dvorin, he wanted to avoid residents' having to change postal addresses and other issues. So it was decided that they should choose a street without any homes on it, a road that serves as a cut-through, he said.

Dvorin was 24 when he was killed on Feb. 3, 2004, while trying to dismantle an improvised explosive device (IED), near Iskandariyah, Iraq, south of Baghdad.

Dvorin was leading a patrol on a counter mission in order to clear an area of mines and bombs. He and his driver saw something suspicious, so he moved on toward the device, which turned out to be a remote-controlled bomb that killed him instantly. The driver was seriously injured.

The incident occurred only months after Dvorin married his high school sweetheart. The two lived in Watertown, N.Y., near the location of the 10th Mountain Division, part of the 62nd Air Defense Regiment.

Dvorin grew up in East Brunswick but graduated from high school in South Brunswick. He joined the Army after graduation from Rutgers University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in administrative justice.

Neary said he was easily convinced that renaming a street was the right thing to do.

"I told his father and sister before we went ahead with it, and they thought it was a nice thing to do," he said.

Neary said he went to high school with Dvorin's mother, Sue Niederer.

As for the renaming of a portion of Evergreen Boulevard, Neary said it was fitting to name it Veterans Way, in part because it runs next to the VFW post. He said local veterans wanted the street renamed, and he agreed it was a good idea.

"It's a road no one lives on, so we won't inconvenience anyone," he said. "And we also pay our respects to our veterans."