Trustee Howard Kaplan, who took a leave from the Toronto District School Board because of failing health, has died.

“It is with heavy hearts, that we announce the passing of Trustee Howard Kaplan,” Director John Malloy and Chair Robin Pilkey said in a joint statement released midday Monday, adding that flags at all buildings were to be lowered to half-staff in his honour.

“We know that all Toronto District School Board Trustees and staff join us in expressing our sincere condolences to Howard’s family, friends and colleagues at this very difficult time.”

Kaplan, 72, posted on his Facebook page last November that he had an autoimmune condition called IgG4-related sclerosing cholangitis.

“Look it up, it’s too complicated to explain it here,” he wrote. “What it means is that I will eventually need a new liver. I am currently undergoing a battery of tests to see if I am a suitable candidate for a transplant: I have to be healthy enough — good heart, lungs, kidneys, etc.; and I have to be sick enough — my liver has to be really bad.”

The Ward 5, York Centre, trustee went on to say that “accordingly, my energy level fluctuates day-by-day. I don’t know from one day to the next how much work I can do. It will get worse as time goes on until I get a new liver ... if I’m a suitable candidate.

“As far as my work as a trustee goes, I’m doing what I can, when I can. Staff are aware of my condition, and are taking on some of my constituency work.”

News of Kaplan’s death comes less than two months after the passing of Sheila Ward, a 20-year trustee who represented Toronto Centre-Rosedale.

The board decided in March that it would hold a by-election June 20 to replace Ward, despite the price tag of up to $400,000.

Kaplan, who was first elected in 2010, had last month been granted a leave of absence until November. Trustees Jennifer Arp and Tiffany Ford were filling in to work with his constituents.

“From early years programming to special education, Howard was passionate about public education and was a strong believer in equity in education,” Malloy and Pilkey said in the statement, adding that “in the coming days, we will be looking at how best to celebrate Howard’s life.”