Gift honors Mack’s long legacy of community service

Special to Iredell Free News

Side Mitchell Mack dedicated a lifetime of service to the Mooresville community.

S. Mitchell Mack

And in a fitting tribute to that legacy, the new S. Mitchell Mack Hospice House will serve the Mooresville community for generations to come.

After Mooresville native John Mack and his wife Christy learned that Hospice & Palliative Care of Iredell County was building a new inpatient hospice house on Mecklenburg Highway, they felt naming the building for John’s cousin, Mitchell Mack, was a meaningful way to recognize his many contributions to the town. Mitchell Mack and his wife Delores both passed away in 2017 while receiving hospice care.

“We are so appreciative of this generous gift from the Mack family, and we are honored that the much-needed S. Mitchell Mack Hospice House will bear the name of one of Mooresville’s most respected citizens,” said HPCIC President & CEO Terri Phillips.

Mitchell Mack was a Davidson College and Harvard University graduate, and operated his family’s store, John Mack & Son, from 1947 to 1993. He also served several terms on the Mooresville Town Board of Commissioners as mayor pro tem, and he was an active leader in Rotary, Boy Scouts, Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Commission, Merchants Association and his church, First Presbyterian. In 2005, he was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, North Carolina’s highest civilian honor.

“S. Mitchell Mack truly lived a life of meaning, consequence and purpose, and unquestionably left the world a better place than he found it,” his family said after he passed away on December 4, 2017.

Family was a cherished part of Mitchell Mack’s life, and he is survived by five children: Side Mitchell Mack Jr., Ronald Mack, Denise Vallee, Yvonne Mack, and Jeffrey Mack.

The S. Mitchell Mack Hospice House is slated to open in April 2021 at 1325 Mecklenburg Highway in Mooresville. The house will feature a warm, home-like environment with 10 individual rooms, family rooms and landscaped outdoor spaces to serve patients and families at end-of-life.

A rendering of the S. Mitchell Mack Hospice House, which is scheduled to open in Mooresville in April of 2021.