SHELTON — Shelton High School will be closed Thursday to allow faculty and students to attend funeral services for Housemaster Tom Gersz Jr., a popular educator who died Sunday.

Gersz, 43, died of an apparent heart attack and leaves behind his wife Irene and three young children — two daughters and a son.

"There is so many staff and students that want to go to the funeral that we have made the decision to close the high school for the day," Supt. of Schools Robin Willink said.

Only the high school will be closed, she said. The district's elementary school and Shelton Intermediate School will be in session as usual.

The decision came after a flood of requests from teachers and staff who wanted to take personal days to attend the services, Willink said. Students also expressed the desire to go to the funeral Mass, she said, so bus transportation will be provided for them. Teachers will be carpooling to the Wallingford church where the funeral will take place.

"Tom touched so many people's lives," Willink said. "We thought that this was the best decision to make."

Gersz came to the school district right out of college in 1986. He taught English at both Shelton High School and Shelton Intermediate School before becoming a housemaster at the high school several years ago.

He coached the school's baseball teams and was president of the district's teachers' union, she said. He also coached baseball and basketball at Sheehan High School in his hometown

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of Wallingford.

"This is the second loss in such a short time," Willink said, referring to the death of Shelton High School social studies teacher and baseball coach Ed Marocco on April 24, "that it is truly a devastating loss." Gersz's wake will be held Wednesday from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Wallingford Funeral Home, 809 North Main St. Ext., Wallingford. A funeral Mass will be held Thursday at 10 a.m. at Our Lady of Fatima Church, 382 Hope Hill Road, Wallingford. Interment will be in All Saints Cemetery in North Haven.

Gifts in his memory may be made to the Thomas J. Gersz Jr. Children's Education Fund, c/o Webster Bank, 1069 Boston Post Rd., Guilford, CT 06437.