ECU alumnus, longtime physician establishes endowment

Dr. J. Mack Worthington ’64 has dedicated his career to educating and training the next generation of family medicine physicians.

Before stepping down from full-time work in 2019, he served as founding chair of the Department of Family Medicine for the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s College of Medicine in Chattanooga, Tennessee at Erlanger Hospital, where he built the Department of Family Medicine’s residency training program.

Now a professor emeritus at the college, Worthington said none of that would have been possible if not for East Carolina University.

Dr. Mack Worthington and his wife, Donna, recently established a scholarship to support students from eastern North Carolina with an interest in majoring in mathematics or mathematics education. (Contributed photos)

“I grew up working on our family tobacco farm on Old Tar Road in Pitt County, right across the street from a Food Lion. I was one of four children in our family and with East Carolina College — as it was called at the time — right down the road, it gave me the opportunity to commute to school,” Worthington said. “I remember tuition being maybe $60 or $90 a quarter at the time. Having that option made it possible for me to attend college — with a large family, we couldn’t have afforded anything else.”

Before medicine, Worthington pursued a career in mathematics. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in math from ECU, he went to N.C. State for his master’s degree in applied mathematics and then spent some time working as an engineer for General Dynamics in Fort Worth, Texas.

“A couple of years in, I sat back and tried to think if that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my career or if I wanted something different. I thought about getting my Ph.D. in math or going into law or medicine,” he said. “At the end of the day, I kept going back to wanting to do something that helped other people. So, I went into medicine.”

Worthington attended medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, did residency training in family medicine in Wichita, Kansas, served in the United States Air Force in the Florida Panhandle, and was on the faculty at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis before settling in Chattanooga, with his wife, Donna, and their three children.

“My wife and I would talk about my upbringing and how fortunate I was to have ECU close by. It was really the impetus for a lot of good things that would end up happening for me,” Worthington said. “I knew I wanted to help someone who was in my situation — someone who needs extra financial assistance in order to go to school.”

And so he did.

The Dr. J. Mack and Mrs. Donna Worthington Scholarship Endowment was recently established to support students from eastern North Carolina with an interest in majoring in mathematics or mathematics education — with a preference for students who grew up on a farm.

“My time at East Carolina gave me some wonderful memories. I started school in 1960 and that fall, John F. Kennedy made a stop in Greenville as part of his presidential campaign,” Worthington recalls. “Since I was part of the Marching Pirates, we performed at the rally, which was held at our stadium. I can distinctly remember where I was sitting in the back of the band near the rostrum as I watched him speak.”

ECU also provided Worthington with other memories he carries with him today.

“I got to experience so many things in college. I loved the cultural events, like when the Detroit Symphony came to play. I also have fond memories of my art appreciation class,” he said. “Many years later, I went to the Art Institute of Chicago and got to see some paintings on the wall that I remember studying in books during class. It made a tremendous impression on me. I wouldn’t have had those experiences if it weren’t for East Carolina.”

It’s those little moments that Worthington hopes the recipients of his scholarship will get to enjoy as well.

“I hope the students who receive this scholarship will be talented, work hard and do well academically — which will give them lots of opportunities in life,” Worthington said. “I hope they succeed in completing their degree and then finding a career they enjoy and can do for a lifetime.”

Just like Worthington.

ECU is in the public phase of the Pursue Gold campaign to raise half a billion dollars. This ambitious effort will create new paths to success for Pirates on campus, across the country and around the world. Donor gifts during the campaign will keep us constantly leading and ready to advance what’s possible. Learn more at pursuegold.ecu.edu.

The Worthingtons with their children Joshua, Julie and Christy.