Candidate for
State Representative; District 152

Tom, the fourth of five sons, was born and raised in Hatboro. His father worked as a union plumber and his mother cleaned homes and worked in a bindery to support their family. Tom graduated from St. John Bosco School and Archbishop Wood High School. He is a graduate of Penn State University, with a B.S. in Economics, and a M.A. in Education from La Salle University. He has undertaken additional graduate coursework in Economics at Temple University and was awarded a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Instructional I Teaching Certificate from Gwynedd-Mercy College.

Tom works full-time as a State Legislator, and teaches part-time in the Business Department at Penn State University's Abington Campus. He lives in Upper Moreland Township with his wife of 19 years, Maria Formanek Murt, M.S.N., R.N., a Nursing Instructor at the Abington Memorial Hospital Dixon School of Nursing. Tom and Maria have three young children, Katherine, Daniel, and Patrick, who attend schools in the Upper Moreland School District. Tom volunteers his time as an Upper Moreland Little League Baseball and Softball coach, an Upper Moreland Soccer coach, and as a religious education instructor for St. David Parish in Willow Grove. Tom also volunteers on the Board of Directors of the Upper Moreland Education Foundation.

Tom Murt made many notable contributions to his country and his community over the past two decades. During the ten years he served as a Commissioner and four years as a School Director in Upper Moreland Township, he was also an Army Reservist, stationed at the Willow Grove Joint Reserve Base. Tom was called to active duty in the earliest weeks of Operation: Iraqi Freedom, and deployed to Iraq in April of 2003. For twelve months, he served the 4th Infantry Division in Tikrit, interrupting his public service temporarily while in the service of his country. Tom recently entered the Retired Reserve with the rank of Staff Sergeant.

In any office he held, Tom Murt put public service ahead of politics and placed the needs of the people as his top priority. He earned a reputation for his dedicated service to his constituents. As Commissioner in Ward 3 of Upper Moreland Township, he founded the Upper Moreland Historical Association, and spearheaded the Historical Trail Project. He initiated the action to save the Boileau Farmstead on Byberry and Orangemans Road, recognizing it as the last remaining colonial-era farmstead in Upper Moreland Township. He founded Brooks Street Park in Willow Grove, and created Ward 3 Kids Day. He also initiated the Holiday Helping Hands and Santa Claus Programs, while arranging for care packages and foodstuffs to be donated to families in the community who were struggling, or who were suffering as a result of unemployment. He also organized the Tropical Storm Allison Clean-Up Volunteers, who pooled their talents to come to the aid of Upper Moreland residents whose homes were ruined by flooding.