STONEHAM, MA — Retired Stoneham High School teacher Edward Schwalb was killed in a hit-and-run car crash Wednesday. Schwalb, 80, was hit while walking across a crosswalk on Commonwealth Ave. in Boston around 1 p.m. when a Jeep struck him and drove off.

"Ted Schwalb was a teacher at Stoneham High School for over three decades, until his retirement in 2000," said Stoneham Principal Donna Cargill. "He taught hundreds of students and inspired many of them to be better people and artists. " Schwalb spent 40 years in Stoneham as an arts teacher at the high school. The superintendent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Schwalb had just celebrated his 80th birthday at the end of May and was living in Boston's South End on Springfield Street when he was hit in the middle of a crosswalk Wednesday. He was taken to St. Elizabeth's hospital and pronounced dead just after 1 p.m. The alleged driver drove away after hitting Schwalb. Video of the incident reportedly shows the black Jeep not even slowing down. Phocian Fitts, 23, of Brighton was later caught and was arraigned Thursday.