Springfield, IL - Dr. David W. Mack, an orthopedic surgeon with the Orthopedic Center of Illinois, is retiring after 38 years in practice on March 31, 2010.
Originally from Kranzburg, South Dakota, he attended Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, for both undergraduate and medical school. After graduating from medical school in 1962, he served as a surgeon for the U.S. Army for ten years and completed his internship at Ireland Army Hospital in Fort Knox, Kentucky. The next year, he was transferred to Fort Fitzsimmons in Denver, Colorado for a residency in general surgery. Due to the war in Vietnam, there was a great need for orthopedic surgeons, thus he completed his residency in that field. He spent five years in Denver, from 1963 to 1968.Â
In 1968, Dr. Mack was transferred to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. There, he cared for injured military personnel who were flown from the battlefield to Fort Dix, New Jersey. In 1970, he was transferred back to Omaha and then on to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, where he served as chief of surgery for the base for two years.
In 1971, Dr. Mack was introduced to Drs. Zaricznyj and Clifford Lynch by Dr. Bill Lynch, a Springfield cardiologist and army buddy. Dr. Mack decided to join their practice, and worked for them on a local tenum basis for several weeks before leaving the Army and moving his family to Springfield in 1972. He practiced with Drs. Zaricznyj and Lynch at Doctors' Park until 1975 when they moved the office to Jefferson Street.  Drs. Hayes and Schroeder had joined the practice by then. In 1999, the office moved to Koke Mill Medical Center and in 2009 to the present location on the southwest corner of Old Jacksonville and Koke Mill Road. During the 38 years that Dr. Mack has practiced in Springfield, it is estimated that he performed in excess of 25,000 surgeries.
Dr. Mack has six children and seven grandchildren (with another one on the way). He and his late wife, Elaine, founded the Marian Center of Springfield in 1987.Â