St. Pete City Council chairman recovering from heart attack

St. Petersburg City Council Chairman Ed Montanari is recovering at home after he was hospitalized and treated over the weekend for myocardial infarction, the medical term for a heart attack.

Ed Montanari

Montanari experienced chest pains while at home on Saturday, May 23 and was diagnosed at St. Anthony’s Hospital with myocardial infarction, a statement from his office said. Doctors in the hospital’s cardiac catheterization lab discovered an artery blockage and inserted a stent, the statement said. All other arteries were normal. Montanari was released and returned home on Monday. He will take a few days off and resume his normal work schedule on Thursday.

This was not a COVID-19 related event, the statement said.

Montanari represents St. Petersburg’s District Three and was first elected to the City Council in November 2015.  He is a commercial airline pilot and has served as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force and an air operations officer at U.S. Central Command.

In the statement, Montanari praised the work of the team at St. Anthony’s: “Thank you to all the doctors and nurses at St. Anthony’s for taking great care of me and saving my life. You have a great team of professionals at St. Anthony’s and I will forever be grateful for your competent, kind, and compassionate treatment. God bless all the good people that work at St. Anthony’s Hospital.”