Pioneer in Hand Surgery John Thomas Sack Dies at 82

Seattle orthopedic surgeon, John Thomas Sack, M.D., pioneer in hand surgery, died in his sleep on February 3, 2023, at the age of 82.

During his years with the Seattle Hand Surgery Group and the University of Washington Medical Center, he invented many new techniques in hand surgery and completed over 160 replant surgeries. In 1978, he replanted 8 severed fingers together with the help of his partner, a medical first at the time.

Sack was dedicated to his patients, logging in the most on call hours in the history of the University of Washington Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine in Seattle. He also believed in mentoring the surgeons who came after him. He helped train 76 hand fellows and hundreds of orthopedic residents during his career and received four teaching awards during his tenure. When he retired, the orthopedic department endowed an annual John T. Sack Lecture.

Sack earned his medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University in 1966 and then completed his medical internship at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

He took time from his studies to serve two years as a Captain in the U.S. Navy in Vietnam and then at the Naval Hospital in Bremerton, Washington. He was awarded a Purple Heart for his time in Vietnam.

Once his service had ended, he did his orthopedic surgery residency at the University of Pennsylvania between 1969 and 1973. He also spent a year as a Hand Surgery Fellow at the University of Edinburgh.

In 1974, he moved to Tacoma General Hospital and then joined the Seattle Hand Surgery Group and the University of Washington Medical Center

Sack was born on September 17,1940 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Mary Berry Thomas Sack and Bernhard Albert Sack. He was the second of four children. He graduated from the Haverford School in 1958 and attended Bowdoin College for his undergraduate degree. He graduated in 1962.

Besides medicine, he had a lifelong passion for model trains, woodworking, and rowing racing shells. He and his family spent many days at Clear Lake, outside of Eatonville in Pierce County in Washington. With the help of family and friends, he built timber frame cabins and enjoyed weekends and summer vacations filled with fishing, rowing, and swimming.

Sack was married to Caroline Ann Meeks, and they had three children together: Jon Thomas Sack, Mary Caroline Sack and Richard Bernhard Sack. In 1985 he married Sharon Coshow Soderstrom and her children, Kirsten Ann Brockman and Erick James Soderstrom joined his family. He also leaves behind his grandchildren: Hannah, Bella, Ellis, Alice, Caiohme, Ivo, Henry, Miles and Andrew.