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Alex Harvilla, of Chesterfield, was heading southbound on a Honda motorcycle when he struck an eastbound Freightliner school bus near milepost 15 around 3:20 p.m. Sunday, NJSP Trooper Alejandro Goez said.
Harvilla was pronounced dead at the scene. None of the 14 passengers on the school bus nor the 64-year-old driver from Somerville were injured, Goez said.
Harvilla's son, John Harvilla, died at 26 years old in a motorcycle accident on I-95 in August 2011, records show. He was a police officer in Hamilton Township.
Harvilla was remembered as a friendly neighbor and loyal friend. He spent many years as a saxophone player with the "Cop Shoo Bops," in Trenton.
"What a great guy he was," Tom Krawiec wrote on Facebook. "He always had a smile and always had a great musical spirit about him. He was so much fun to be around. I always told him that if I ever started a band, he would be the first person I would invite to be in it."
"Al was a great guy," another person wrote. "We lived half a block apart in the early eighties. He’d come down to my parents’ house Sunday mornings to join us for coffee and bagels. Always with a smile on his face. Rest In Peace Al."
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