Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

Philly sports teams donate to fund for 7-year-old daughter of truck driver killed in I-95 collapse

The Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, and Union are donating $50,000 for a trust to benefit the daughter of Nathan Moody, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced.

Philadelphia sports mascots atop a fire truck make their way over the temporary I-95 lanes in Northeast Philadelphia on Friday. The Northeast Philadelphia stretch of the busy interstate had been closed since a tanker truck fire on June 11 caused a bridge to collapse.
Philadelphia sports mascots atop a fire truck make their way over the temporary I-95 lanes in Northeast Philadelphia on Friday. The Northeast Philadelphia stretch of the busy interstate had been closed since a tanker truck fire on June 11 caused a bridge to collapse.Read moreHeather Khalifa / Staff Photographer

The Eagles, Phillies, 76ers, Flyers, and Union are donating $50,000 for a trust to benefit the 7-year-old daughter of Nathan Moody, the truck driver who died in the Interstate 95 collapse on June 11, Gov Josh Shapiro announced Friday.

“We are all honored to be a part of this donation. No gesture will bring Nathan back, but we hope this brings a small bit of solace for the family during this incredibly difficult time,” the teams said in a joint statement Friday.

Shapiro’s announcement came as temporary lanes on I-95 built at the collapse site were opened on Friday.

In an interview last week, Isaac Moody of Willow Grove said his first cousin Nathan Moody, who was 53, according to public records, lived in New Jersey and had obtained a hazardous-materials license to work short-distance supply runs to gas stations within the region — as opposed to long-haul trucking — in order to spend more time with his 7-year-old daughter.

“He always said he wanted that girl to grow up with her daddy,” he said. “That little girl was everything to him.”

Officials said Moody was negotiating a turn when he lost control of a tanker truck containing 8,500 gallons of gasoline. The load caught fire on the Cottman Avenue off-ramp and the flames quickly caused the I-95 bridge above to collapse. Moody’s death was deemed an accident by the Philadelphia medical examiner; the cause was blunt trauma to his head, along with inhalation and thermal injuries.

His relatives said Moody, a truck owner-operator, worked for TK Transport Inc., a gas-hauling company based in Pennsauken.

“Nate was a father of three, a veteran, and a hardworking devoted family man who leaves behind many people who loved him — including a 7-year-old daughter who adored playing with her dad after school,” according to a GoFundMe page started by a family friend.

The donated money is going directly to the mother of Moody’s daughter, the GoFundMe organizer said.

As of Friday evening, more than $37,000 had been raised.