Home News Tribune -- SOUTH AMBOY: A man with South Amboy and East Brunswick ties, described by a former teacher as "brilliant,'' has died while serving in Iraq with the Army.

Sgt. 1st Class Benjamin L. Sebban, 29, a medic, died Saturday in Baqouba, Iraq, from wounds suffered when an "improvised explosive device'' detonated near his unit, the Defense Department announced Monday.

The soldier attended St. Mary's Elementary School in South Amboy and was a 1996 graduate of the East Brunswick campus of the Middlesex County Vocational-Technical High School system.

Mayor John T. O'Leary said he was told Sebban ultimately lost his life after tending to other soldiers after being injured himself following an explosion.

"Benjamin died a hero's death,'' O'Leary said Monday. "What else can you say?''

Victoria Pinilis, a vo-tech health-technology teacher who taught Sebban, remembers her former student well.

"I can't say enough about him,'' she said. "It's unbelievably shocking.''

Pinilis said Sebban was a "brilliant'' student, one she affectionately referred to as a bit of a "wise guy'' early on.

Sebban was assigned to the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Pinilis said she will never forget when Sebban came back to visit the school some years later on a day when a wake was scheduled for a classmate who had died in Kosovo.

Sensitive enough to understand that the open-casket affair was "extremely difficult'' for Pinilis, Sebban waited around at the school for four hours so he could then attend the wake with his former instructor, Pinilis said.

"He made it a point so I didn't have to go alone,'' she said. "I can't tell you how touched I was.''

"He didn't deserve it,'' Pinilis added of the news of his death. "Not that anyone does.''

Susan Cipperly, who served as Sebban's guidance counselor, said Sebban matured as a youngster.

"He was really a wonderful boy,'' Cipperly recalled. "He didn't come in as one of the greatest students, but he really made strides. He did well with us.''

Cipperly said Sebban was a medic in the Army.

South Amboy officials Monday said they were acting on the wishes of the Sebban family when they asked the media to not yet contact relatives. The family is expected to meet with the press sometime soon.

O'Leary said Sebban was respected, respectful and someone who had long wanted to live a military life.

"This is a young person who devoted himself to love of country, love of family and love of his friends,'' he said.

Sebban was listed as an alumnus of Word of Life Fellowship, a ministry committed to reaching youth with the Gospel, according to the group's Web site. A woman with the group said the organization was aware of Sebban's death and had asked members to pray for his family.

Sebban is not the only graduate of the East Brunswick campus of the vo-tech school to be killed in Iraq. In 2003, Spc. Narson B. Sullivan, 21, of North Brunswick died as a result of a "noncombat weapon discharge,'' the Defense Department announced at the time. Sullivan was a 2000 graduate. Sullivan was the first Middlesex County resident to die while serving in the Iraq campaign.

Arrangements for Sebban will be announced by The Gundrum Service Home for Funerals, 237 Bordentown Ave., in South Amboy.