School Committee's Scharfman Hospitalized after Heart-Related Incident

Dan Scharfman, Belmont School Committee member and a Board of Selectmen candidate last year, is hospitalized after suffering a heart attack early Tuesday morning, Jan 15.

"Dan suffered a severe heart attack early yesterday morning," said Merle Kummer, Scharfman's wife, in a statement released by the family Wednesday, Jan. 16.

"With the help of the Belmont Fire Department EMTs, who did a terrific job, and a great team of doctors, he’s being closely monitored. But he remains in critical condition, and neither his doctors nor any of us will have any idea of the prognosis before this weekend, if then."

"We’ll be sure to tell his many friends any definite information we have when we have it. But for now, we’re all waiting – and grateful not just for the superb and caring treatment he is receiving but for the overwhelming wishes of love and support we are receiving," said Kummer.

The first-term School Committee member elected in 2010 has submitted nomination papers to the Town Clerk's office in December seeking re-election in the coming April Town Election.

Scharfman, who owns an information systems consulting firm geared towards helping nonprofits, was defeated by Andy Rojas in one of the closest Board of Selectman races in town history, losing by 35 votes out of approximately 4,400 cast this past April.

In recent years, Scharfman has become an accomplished distance runner finishing Boston Marathons and having run three ultra-races this year including a 50-mile race in Nashville in November. The School Street resident was prepping for a 100-mile race in Weston this June.