Co-Founder of Orthopaedic Associates of Lancaster Deceased at 84

John “Jack” Haines Shertzer, M.D., orthopedic surgeon, and co-founder of Orthopaedic Associates of Lancaster died on Saturday, November 5, 2022.

Dr. Shertzer and Dr. Alfred Cooke started Orthopedic Associates of Lancaster, Pennsylvania—in Lancaster, one of the oldest towns in the United States—in 1972 and the practice celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. Drs. Shertzer and Cooke introduced the practice of joint replacement surgery to central Pennsylvania. Prior to starting Orthopedic Associates with Cooke, Shertzer worked with Dr. William G. Phippen.

Dr. Shertzer also served as chief of orthopedics and chief of staff at Lancaster General Hospital where he was a member of the hospital board of directors from 1986 to 1996. In 2015, Shertzer was inducted into Lancaster General Hospital’s Societas Generalis for his commitment and service to the hospital and his patients.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College. Shertzer received his medical degree from Temple Medical School in 1964 and completed his internship at Lancaster General Hospital from 1964 to 1965. He then did his orthopedic residency from 1965 to 1969 at the Mayo Clinic. After medical school, he served in the U.S. Army at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, for two years where he earned the rank of major.

Shertzer was born in Lancaster to his parents the late Charles Haines and Kathyrn Shertzer. He attended J.P. McCaskey High School where he served as class president and graduated as the valedictorian of his class in 1956.

Shertzer was also an athlete in school. He was a two-time Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc. tennis champion and was named outstanding athlete at McCaskey. He was inducted into the McCaskey Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995 and was honored by the Lancaster County Tennis Hall of Fame in 2016.

While practicing orthopedics, Shertzer also ran Stone Meadow Farms in Washington Boro where he raised steers.

He and his wife of 34 years Georgiann Shertzer spent time living in Bonita Springs, Florida, and Rock Hall, Maryland, as well as Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After he retired from his orthopedic surgery practice in 1998, he and his wife spent nine months traveling the Intracoastal Waterway from their dock in Rock Hall to Florida and back.

Shertzer is survived by his wife Georgiann and his former wife Deborah (Benson) Everett and their three children, Carolyn and her husband Timothy Clayman of Andover, Massachusetts; David Shertzer and his wife Deborah Buzzitta of Mountain Lakes, New Jersey; and Kathryn and her husband Joseph Mikos of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. He leaves behind his nine grandchildren: Alexander, Natalie, Wesley and Gwendolyn Claman; Eric and Matthew Shertzer; and Lila, Clara and Ava Mikos. He was predeceased by his brother Charles Robert Shertzer, and survived by his sister Mary Kathyrn McKearin of Burlington, Vermont.