Todd Michael said the city has been near and dear to him since childhood
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
LINWOOD — “Linwood is a wonderful community and I look forward to raising my children here and them having similar experiences that I had,” new City Councilman Todd Michael told The Sentinel.
The 42-year-old investment adviser said the city has been near and dear to him since childhood.
Michael attended Seaview Elementary and Belhaven Middle before moving ahead to Mainland Regional High School, where he played football, basketball and “a little baseball.”
After high school, he played football and studied at Harvard University, graduating in 2002. He said he was happy, coming from a small town, to broaden his horizons a little but “came to realize that 1) Linwood is a great place to raise a family and 2) I’m a little bit of a small-town guy. I like living in a place where when you walk down the street people wave to each other, smile and say ‘hello.’ Linwood is a place that provides that opportunity.”
He bought a house in the city in 2005 and got married in 2007. He and his wife, Emily, have three girls ages 5, 4 and 1. Calling his wife a “transplant,” he said she grew up in Connecticut.
Michael works for PNC Wealth Management from an office in Cherry Hill but has been working from home since March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic caused statewide shutdowns and other restrictions.
He doesn’t miss the commute.
“I got two to three hours of my life back,” he said.
There was another bright spot for Michael during the pandemic. He said his youngest daughter was born in February 2020 and he was home with her for more than a year.
“It’s really been great. It’s given me the bonding experience that I wasn’t fortunate enough to have with my older kids,” Michael said. “If there’s one bright side to the pandemic, that’s it.”
This is Michael’s first foray into politics but he did serve on the Linwood Planning Board in 2010-11. He also did a lot of volunteer work such as coaching the Linwood Panthers junior football teams — where his experience in college certainly paid off for the kids — even when he had no child in the program.
The Republican said he wants to “volunteer my time in any productive way that I can.”
“Living in Linwood, having grown up here, I love the community, love the town. Frankly, I want to give back,” Michael said.
Michael, who was appointed March 19 to replace Brian Heun, oversees public safety. His term expires Nov. 2 unless re-elected. He can be reached at tmichael@linwoodcity.org.