Ben Kweller and Wife Liz Share Obituary for 16-Year-Old Son Dorian Zev

By wazup on March 8, 2023 Comments Closed / 135 views

Late in February, Ben Kweller and his wife, Liz, lost their 16-year-old son, Dorian Zev, in a tragic car accident. Aspiring to be a musician like his father and recording under the name ZEV, Dorian was set to make his live debut at South by Southwest later this month. The entire music community shares in the Kwellers’ sorrow, and mourns the loss of a burgeoning talent and spirited young man.

The Kwellers have launched a GoFundMe page to help create the Dorian Kweller Memorial Fund, with the goal of turning the fund into a 501(c)(3) non-profit to help musicians and skateboarders like Dorian by supporting initiatives within those communities. To show people why the Memorial Fund was started and inspire donations — as well as begin to heal from their own grief — Ben and Liz have penned a personal obituary for their son.

The heartfelt eulogy sheds a light on the kind of person Dorian was, from his zest for music to his love of the skateboarding community to his excitement about what the future held. Read it below, and if you are so inclined, contribute to the Dorian Kweller Memorial Fund here.

Our son Dorian Zev Kweller died in a freak car accident on Monday, February 27th, 2023. He was 16 years old. He was going the speed limit, phone in its holder, seatbelt on, doing everything right. He was freestyle rapping to his favorite instrumental playlist when an oncoming truck drifted towards him. Dorian swerved into the shoulder to avoid the oncoming truck. While in the shoulder, a downed broken tree branch from the recent freeze came through the window and hit him on the right side of his head. He died instantly. The airbags didn’t go off, the car wasn’t overly damaged. He would’ve walked away from this had it not been for that one branch. When Dorian was born, our main wish for him was to have a zest for life. That wish came true times a hundred. Our baby was riding high until his final minute on earth.

Dorian came into this world on May 30th, 2006. He took his first breath in a tiny NYC delivery room while the music of Mason Jennings played in the background. Dorian received his first drum set at the age of 2 and played a 4/4 rock beat before his father could show him how. He was a wordsmith from the time he could speak — rhyming and freestyling from his car seat to the backyard, to the bed.