Donald Gene Mack

A memorial service celebrating the life of Dr. Donald G. Mack, Sr. will be held at 10:00 a.m. at St. Marks Cathedral on Thursday, March 31, 2022. Officiating will be The Very Rev. Alston Boyd Johnson.
Dr. Donald Gene Mack, Sr., passed away on Monday, March 28, 2022. He was born in Longview, Texas on June 12, 1931 to Lebanese immigrants, Mary and Willie Mack.
He graduated from Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1951. He completed his M.D. degree in 1956 at LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana where he also completed an internship in general pediatrics. Dr. Mack served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force Medical Corps from 1957-1959 and then returned to LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans to complete a residency in general pediatrics and to serve as chief pediatric resident for one year.
In 1961, Dr. Mack returned to Shreveport, Louisiana to establish his pediatric practice, which lasted 52 years.
He sent the first out of town patient to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee the first day the hospital opened to receive patients.
He served on The ALSAC/St. Jude Board of Governors and Directors from 1982 until 2003 when he was elevated to emeritus status. In 1991, Dr. Mack founded the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway, which has become a national fundraiser for ALSAC/St. Jude across the United States. To date, this program has approximately 40 Dream Home Giveaways per year and has raised close to $600,000,000 for the patients at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Dr. Mack is preceded in death by his loving wife of 63 years, Joan Thomas Mack; parents, Mary and Willie and sisters, Gladys Huff, Dorothy Strain, and Jeanne Gilley.
Dr. Mack is survived by his four children, Cindy Mack, Susie Aguillard and husband Neal, Gene Mack and wife Jan, and Thomas Mack and wife Maude; six granddaughters, Lindsay Atkins and husband John, Madeline Stratton and husband Ben, Mary Margaret Mack, Anne Marie Mack, Annie Stafford and husband Ryan, and Pepper Smith; and great-granddaughter Eleanor Ann Stratton. He is also survived by his sister, Mary Frances Attrep, of Lafayette, Louisiana; nephew, Greg Attrep; and niece, Jeanne Frances Attrep and husband John.
Dr. Mack's family would like to thank the staff of the Savannah at The Oaks, Rick Simpson and his caretakers at Professional Sitter Services for the loving care he received.
In lieu of flowers, the family request donations in Dr. Mack's honor are made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.