Commentary
Celebration of the life of David Marrack
Dr. David Marrack, M.B., B.S., M.D., died at the age of 88 on Friday, September 23, 2011 in Houston, TX. Dr. Marrack is a retired clinical pathologist, general practitioner and environmentalist whose career spanned more than 60 years. He was born to Dr. John Richard Marrack and Alice May Swaffield Milward on Christmas Day 1922 in the counties of Hartford and Essex, north of London. He was married on 11 June 1949 to Patricia Franklin Marrack who passed away July 4, 2004. His interest in public health is rooted in a 1937 typhoid epidemic in the London suburb of Croydon, which he assisted his father in the investigation. His concern for the issue deepened after surviving an event now called the "London Killer Fog". Dr. David Marrack graduated from the London Hospital Medical College in 1947 and served in the Royal Air Force's medical division during World War II, and left as squadron commander wing leader in 1951. After a fellowship at Barnes Jewish Hospital in 1953-54, he held a position as a pathologist at Westminster Hospital Medical School from 1954-58. From 1958-61 he served as a chemical pathologist at the Institute of Neurology, National Hospital for Nervous Disease, Queen Square, London. In 1961, Dr. Marrack, his wife, Patricia, and three children immigrated to the United States for a position as Chief of Biochemistry in Research Clinical Pathology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute and as an Associate Professor of Pathology at the University of Texas Postgraduate Medical School, Houston, Texas. In 1968 - 75 he became a Pathologist to the Harris County Hospital District at Ben Taub and Jefferson Davis Hospitals and Assistant Professor at Baylor College of Medicine, Pathology Department, Houston, Texas.
His research and clinical training, and education at King's College in Cambridge, England, helped shape his views on environmental issues. Many people knew Dr. Marrack for his efforts to curtail air pollution, toxic releases, incineration issues and vehicular emissions. He served on the board of the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention (GHASP) for nearly two decades. He often was called to give expert testimony in those areas in hearings and lawsuits against polluters, and wrote more than 200 papers on the impact of bad air on people living in communities near industrial plant sites. Dr. Marrack was a well-known birder, an interest that was instilled at an early age by his father, Dr. John Richard Marrack. He was one of the founding members of the Houston Audubon Society, a member of the Sierra Club, and was a partner in the acquisition of the Altwater Prairie Chicken Refuge by the Nature Conservancy of Texas. His passion for birding took him to Russia, China, India, Japan, Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala, Mexico and throughout the United States. He was a regular participant on the Gulf Coast Christmas Bird Counts. David and Patricia are survived by their children; Jane Marrack Harrison and her husband Charles W. Harrison III, Paul Marrack and wife Katharine Ogden Marrack, Mary Marrack Papke and husband Wallace E. Papke, Jr., grandchildren, Rachel Lynn Harrison, Stephan Michael Harrison and Andrew Ogden Marrack. All who live in Houston and the surrounding areas. A celebration of his life will be held from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Friday, October 21, 2011 at Nature Discovery Center Park, 7112 Newcastle Street, Bellaire, Texas 77401. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Nature Discovery Center Park at the address above or Air Alliance Houston (formally GHASP), 2409 Commerce Street, Suite A, Houston, TX 77003.
