Montville — Todd Pomazon, a member of the town’s school board for more than two decades, who was chairman of the committee to build a new middle school in the mid-1990s and took a hard stance against proposals to charge students for participation in extracurricular activities, died Saturday. He was 60.

His wife, Monica Pomazon, said Monday that he suffered a pulmonary embolism.

“He definitely was a family man,” she said. “He was happiest when we had people over."

Pomazon, a senior quality control analyst at Electric Boat, had also served as the chairman of the Montville Democratic Town Committee and the chairman of the Montville Lions Club, and was a member of the Quaker Hill Rod and Gun Club and the National Rifle Association.

As a young man Pomazon ran four marathons. His wife said he passed his passion for running onto his daughter Suzanne Freeman, who plans to run the Marine Corps Marathon with her husband next week as part of “Team Todd.”

He was also a dedicated grandfather, a golfer and a master gardener who sold chrysanthemums, his wife said.

Pomazon, who grew up in Montville, was elected to the school board in 1993.

“In just about any of our schools you’ll see his name as a member of the building committee,” said school board chairman Robert Mitchell.

Town Council Chairman Joseph Jaskiewicz said Monday that while Pomazon was a quiet person, he was passionate about serving his community and improving Montville’s schools.

“When he wanted to get his point across, he did,” Jaskiewicz said.

School board member Sandra Berardy, who served with Pomazon for more than a decade, praised his dedication to the town and the school district both he and his daughter grew up in.

"He followed that all the way through for many years, to make sure that the (middle school project) was done properly," she said. "It wasn't like he had any big desire to change things — he was just ... (working) to make sure that things moved along for the benefit of the community."

The Montville Democratic Town Committee will nominate someone to serve in Pomazon's seat until it expires November 2017, and the Town Council will vote on whether to confirm the nominee.

Pomazon also opposed proposals to institute a "pay-to-play" policy whenever it was proposed as a way to ease the town's budget problems.  

During neogotiations over the town's 2016 fiscal year budget, the proposal was floated again and Pomazon spoke out against it at the final budget meeting.

"He never wanted the kids to not be able to participate in an extracurricular activity because of the money," Mitchell said. "That was the one thing that he would never vote for."

And, Mitchell said, Pomazon's insistence was taken seriously by the board.

"We found other things to reduce and didn't go there," he said.

m.shanahan@theday.com