On Thanksgiving Day 2025, tragedy struck our Caribbean and African diaspora family. In Orange, New Jersey, sisters Pojanee “PJ” Fleury (42) and Frantzia Fleury (49) lost their lives in a fast-moving house fire as they tried to help their disabled father escape their family home on Mosswood Avenue. CNW Network+1
According to local reports, the fire broke out around 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving. The sisters focused on saving their father, who uses a wheelchair and lives with dementia. While he and several others were ultimately rescued, Pojanee and Frantzia never made it out and were later pronounced dead.
Pojanee “PJ” Fleury was known as a Caribbean-American radio personality on WHCR 90.3 FM in New York, as well as an author, inventor, and media creator dedicated to uplifting Black communities and telling our stories with dignity and pride. Her sister, Frantzia, worked in the medical field and has been described as a deeply devoted daughter, mother, and community member, with a life rooted in service and care for others.CNW Network+1 Each sister leaves behind a child, a family in mourning, and a community in shock.
For members of the Ethiopian World Federation, Incorporated, this loss resonates deeply with our mission “to promote love and good-will among Ethiopians at home and abroad… to correct abuses, relieve oppression, and carve for ourselves and our posterity a destiny” rooted in justice and dignity.
The final act of these two sisters—risking and ultimately giving their lives to protect their father—is a painful yet powerful expression of the love, responsibility, and sacrifice that sit at the heart of our values.
As we remember Pojanee and Frantzia, we hold their children, their father, and their entire family in our prayers. We also recommit ourselves, as a Federation, to the work they embodied in their lives: building community, defending our elders, honoring our culture, and standing in solidarity across the Caribbean, the Americas, and Africa.
May their courage inspire us.
May their memory strengthen us.
May their spirits find peace.