Family tradition

2014 dental graduate Dr. Spencer Mack is the sixth Mack family addition to the dental profession and part of the third Mack generation to graduate from Texas A&M University Baylor College of Dentistry. If history repeats itself, chances are good we’ll see more of this family in the decades to come.

Graduating with fourth scholastic honors in her dental class, Dr. Spencer Mack follows the career path of her father, Longview, Texas, oral and maxillofacial surgeon Dr. J. “Andy” Mack ’85, pictured at center, who hooded his daughter during the commencement ceremony. Dr. Andy Mack’s brothers — Dr. Ben Mack, a general surgeon in Longview, pictured at far left, and Longview general dentist Dr. Chris Mack ’83, pictured at right — as well as the brothers’ cousin Dr. Kelly Mack ’79, a general dentist in Longview who is not pictured, are part of the family’s second generation of medical and dental professionals.

Dr. Spencer Mack’s siblings are also on the dental path: Madison Mack, pictured at center left, is a third-year TAMBCD student, and brother Luke, an entering dental student at UTSD in Houston who is not pictured, is the first in the family to select a dental school other than TAMBCD.

A journey to the beginning of the family’s connection with dentistry and the Dallas dental school requires going back two generations to grandfather Dr. Sam Mack ’45 — a dual-degree dentist and physician who practiced both oral surgery and general surgery — and his brother Dr. Ed Mack ’47, a Longview general dentist.