George Edward Mack, Jr

George Edward Mack Jr (1948-2024)

A colorful man who insisted you have as good a time as he was having, George Edward Mack Jr, known to family as "Skip" Mack, 75, of West Chicago, passed away of a heart attack on January 4th, 2024.

He was born in 1948 to George and Elaine Mack of Elmhurst, grew up in Wooster Lake, and graduated from McHenry High School in 1967. In those days, the United States was running a pool where the winner got a free 2-year stint in the army, and in 1969 at 21 years old he was drafted. After losing the draft pool, he won the deployment lottery: Germany. While fortunate, war misses no man, and he spent Vietnam tending to those who needed a stay in the hospital before heading home from war. He saw the cost of war as much as a person could without fighting in one.

After returning home, he frequently embarked on a new career, taking on anything that seemed interesting and paid enough to make rent. Rumors of George traveling with a carnival during this period persist to this day. In his travels he found love, and he married Phyllis (Lisa) Miller in 1976. After marrying, he settled in the construction industry. Their first child was a daughter they chose to name Bergen, after the most beautiful place on earth George had ever visited (Bergen, Norway). After their daughter's birth, they moved to nearby southern Wisconsin, living first in a trailer and then in a farmhouse. A son, named Otto after Lisa's grandfather, was born soon after. Soon after that, they discovered that their love worked better with a good bit of distance, and he and Lisa were divorced.

He moved to Chicago, taking a job helping replace the S curve bridge on Lake Shore Drive. First a dad on the weekends, by early 1984 George worked himself into a full-time single dad with custody of his children. George worked hard to make his place nice enough for his kids, taking a side job renovating a 2-bedroom apartment for his landlord so he could move into it with his kids.

While the small apartment in Roscoe Village was home, he felt a house of his own was the place to raise children. He worked hard to land a job as an engineer for the City of West Chicago, and after a year renting in West Chicago, purchased his house in Waynewood in 1987. Always the bargain hunter, George found a house that was condemned and could not be lived in, but he saw potential. With the help of everyone he knew, he tripled the square footage and rebuilt the original house from the ground up.

Cupid's arrow found him once more, marrying Kathleen (Kathy) Kramer in 1989. He spent a summer running a construction company with a partner before returning to his job at the City, where he remained until the year 2000. Despite how easy the Brady Bunch made it look, George and Kathy found the road to a blended family quite bumpy, and their marriage ended in 1996. After leaving the City, he worked in construction management in the private sector until calling it quits in 2012.

From 1998 on, George was a single empty-nester. He embraced a life of travel, music, dancing, golf, bowling, and most of all, friends. A member of several local meet-up groups, George could be found at whatever the most interesting event that day was, and you could often find him there trying to plan the next get together. His absence from these spaces is sure to be felt by many.

George is survived by his daughter Bergen (Jose) Valencia, son Otto (Michelle) Mack, two grandsons (James-Oliver and Aubrey Mack), two sisters (Sandra Mack and Sue Malenius), one brother Bruce (Trish) Mack, four nieces, one nephew, and countless friends. A celebration of George's life will be held January 28th 12-3 at St Andrews Golf and Country Club in West Chicago, IL. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that gifts be made to Shriners Children's.