VASSALBORO – An ex-Marine who returned home last month after serving three tours in Iraq lost his life in a highway crash as he was preparing to begin a new life as a civilian.

Timothy Foshay, 22, had just found a new apartment and had enrolled at the University of Maine at Augusta as an English major, said his mother, Ann Foshay.

“He hadn’t even gotten a chance to move in yet,” she told the Kennebec Journal in Augusta.

Timothy Foshay died Wednesday night after he lost control of his 1995 Acura, which overturned on Holman Day Road and rolled into some trees and rocks. He was ejected from the vehicle and was dead at the scene, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the state Public Safety Department. Police said excessive speed was a factor in the crash.

Foshay spent four years in the Marines and held the rank of corporal when he received an early discharge so he could attend school.