Andy Garfunkel gets his monthly haircut from Melissa Conti on Friday at Seaport Salon at 72 Van Zant St. He'll lose all his hair next month at O'Neill's Pub in Norwalk.
Photo credit: Nancy Guenther Chapman

NORWALK, Conn. – With his Norwalk mayoral campaign in the rearview mirror, Andy Garfunkel thinks it's OK now to mess with the "continuity of his look" – and get his head shaved.

More than a year ago, Garfunkel promised a co-worker going through cancer treatments that he would go bald in solidarity with her. On March 10, Garfunkel will make good on that promise and get his head shaved at a St. Baldrick's Foundation fundraiser at O'Neill's Pub. Money raised will go to help find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives.

Norwalk's assistant town clerk was pleased to hear it. "I'm very honored," said Debbie Troy, who recently celebrated her one-year anniversary of being free of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. "He did tell me when I lost my hair that he would shave his head and that time came and went. And I have a full head of hair now. He never did it. So I'm happy he's following through."

Garfunkel, a member of the Norwalk Exchange Club and Norwalk's former town clerk, said he didn't take part in the fundraiser last year because he was running for mayor. "It was a little difficult, taking campaign shots and trying to maintain some continuity of the look," he said.

While he's going bald because Troy inspired him, he's stressed that he's doing it to raise money for children with cancer. Cancer kills more children in the U.S. and Canada than any other disease, according to the St. Baldrick's website – 160,000 children are diagnosed every year.

The event, sponsored by Ollie O'Neill, has a goal of raising $50,000. Garfunkel said there are four people on the "Exchange Hair for a Cure" team, and team captain Bill Solder said he doesn't think the team will have any problem meeting its $5,000 goals. Solder has just gotten a $1,000 pledge.

Garfunkel has gotten $311 in pledges since announcing his plan on Facebook on Feb. 1.

He just returned from Boynton Beach, Fla., where his family gathered to celebrate his mother's 80th birthday. He's hoping his tan has faded by the time he gets his hair shaved, lest he look really odd as a baldie.

What's he been doing since the election? "I'm still searching for work, but in the meantime I'm giving my time to organizations," Garfunkel said. His mother likes to throw parties, he said, and he's using the party planning skills he learned from her to help organize the Norwalk Seaport Association's Gala on March 24 and St. Paul's Episcopal Church celebration of its 275th anniversary. He's also helping David Cole raise money to open a Fisher House in West Haven to provide families of seriously injured soldiers a place to stay during the rehabilitation process.

Garfunkel, who said he wanted to reinvent himself when he announced he wouldn't run for re-election as town clerk, is hopeful that his new career will start soon. "I've got a few irons on the fire, something might come through next week," he said. "I'm working pretty hard on that, trying to stay local, in the area, so I can remain involved in the growth of Norwalk, and the future of Norwalk."