Gordon Mack Gordon Mack, 81, emeritus faculty in the Leisure Services Division of the UNI School of Health, Physical Education, and Leisure Services, died September 8, 2008, in Princeton, New Jersey.
Gordon Mack served as Director of the American Humanics, Inc. program at UNI from 1994 until 2004. Testimonials at his retirement credited Mack with taking the fledgling youth and human services curriculum at UNI and directing it to the robust, highly-regarded program it remains today.
A native of Evanston, Illinois, he earned a bachelor's degree and second lieutenant's commission at Southern University, where he entered the Army ROTC, played football, joined Kappa Alpha Psi, and served as president of the student YMCA, the beginning of a life-long connection. Following two years of service in the Army and graduate school at New York University, he was hired as an assistant boy's work secretary at the Hyde Park YMCA in Chicago. Almost forty years later, including ten years as a division chair at Bank Street College of Education, he retired from the YMCA of the USA, where his most recent responsibilities had included national personnel services and the implementation of the Y's mandate for cultural diversity. Within weeks of retirement, he agreed to an appointment at the University of Northern Iowa to head the American Humanics program, a launch pad for students entering the not-for-profit sector.
At UNI Gordon Mack always brought a special presence to the table. He taught people about life and living as well as about learning. The pictures that hung on his office wall gave a sense of family and community. With his wisdom, knowledge, and vast professional experience he reached out to students, colleagues, alumni, and parents alike, leaving those who visited him with good personal feelings and with ambitions to do better in life as well as in the academy. He was dependable, straightforward, and courageous. Those at UNI and in the Cedar Valley who knew Gordon Mack are all richer for their association with him. He has been sadly missed.
He is survived by his wife, Kay; daughters Melissa Mack of Elizabeth, New Jersey, and Margot Mack of New York City; sons Michael of Richmond, Virginia, and Matthew of Kappa Kauai, Hawaii; and a sister, Marjorie Mack of Brooklyn, New York.
A memorial service will be held at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 2410 Melrose Drive, Cedar Falls (319-277-8520) on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 12:30 pm. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Humanics, Inc. program through the UNI Foundation.
From a memo circulated in the UNI College of Education, September 2008.