Longview mayor in ICU after 'recent health event'
Published: Sat, 12/10/22
Longview mayor in ICU after 'recent health event'
Mayor Andy Mack speaks Nov. 2 during the annual State of the City luncheon at the Infinity Event Center.
Les Hassell/News-Journal File Photo
Longview News-Journal
From staff reports
The wife of Longview Mayor Andy Mack says he is hospitalized after "a recent health event."
Kelly Mack told City Manager Rolin McPhee on Saturday that Mack's "condition is stable, and prayers and privacy would be appreciated by the family at this time," according to McPhee.
District 1 Councilman Tem Carpenter said he was told Saturday by McPhee that Mack had the medical issue Wednesday and is in an intensive care unit at a Tyler hospital.
Carpenter also said he first became aware Wednesday when he received a message through a text prayer chain asking for prayers for Mack.
No further details about Mack's condition were available Saturday.
Mack, who was not at Thursday's council meeting, was elected mayor in 2015 and before that was District 4 councilman from 1997 to 2005.
He graduated from Longview High School in 1978, later attending Kilgore College and graduating from Stephen F. Austin State University. He later earned his doctorate of dental surgery from Baylor University.
After completing his surgical residency in Houston in 1989, Mack returned to his hometown to join East Texas Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Associates, where he still works.
Mack also has served as council liaison for numerous civic committees and boards, was a founding board member for Legacy Longview and worked on the development and creation of the Lear Park Complex.
His third and final term expires in May 2024.
District 4 Councilwoman Kristen Ishihara, who is mayor pro tem, will fulfill Mack's responsibilities for as long as he is unable.
Under Longview's form of government, the city manager and not the mayor oversees daily operations.