Liberia: Former Lawmaker, Julius Berrian, Dies in Motor Accident

Former Montserrado District #10 Representative, Julius F. Berrian, is pronounced dead after he was involved in a tragic motor accident on Wednesday, March 2. He was 46. 

According to friendly sources, Berrian, a resident of the United States, had been complaining of “severe chest pain”. Early Wednesday morning, he decided to drive himself to a hospital.  While en route, he was on the phone with a friend who had advised him that it was unsafe for him to drive himself in such a condition, and that it would have been safer if he called an ambulance or a friend to convey him.

The friend even offered to drive behind him with his own car to ensure Berrian got to his destination safely. It was during that phone call, sources say, that Berrian went silent. 

Philadelphia Police say he crashed into a tree at around 5:30 a.m. along Roosevelt Boulevard and Winchester Avenue, in the Bustleton section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was rushed to the Jefferson Torresdale Hospital and pronounced dead at 6:24 a.m. The Philadelphia Medical Examiner is currently investigating the cause of death, though many suspect that Berrian experienced cardiac arrest while driving. 

News of Berrian’s sudden death has shocked many of his colleagues and friends in Liberia and abroad, who termed the event as untimely. While in Liberia In 2011, Berrian ran for office in the 53rd Legislature on the ticket of George Weah’s Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) and won. He served as Montserrado County District #10 in the House of Representatives, where he chaired the Committee on Banking and Currency.

His re-election bid in 2017 was not favored by the CDC, so ran as an independent candidate, but did not win. 

Following that election, he relocated to the United States of America and decided to go back to school. In 2021, he earned a Master’s Degree in Psychology from Walden University. At the time of his death, Berrian was working on his second Master’s Degree in the Environmental Sciences from Marywood University. 

Julius Flourish Berrian is survived by his two sons, Prince and Flourish; his father Timothy Berrian and his mother, Beatrice Bowen (commonly known as ‘Ma Bo’). His ex-wife also lives in the United States.