Latvian-born surgeon Juris Macs, who worked for decades in the US, has died
Latvian-born surgeon Juris Miervaldis Macs died in the United States on 8 October 2026 at the age of 92. He spent 46 years at one hospital in Washington State, and his death was announced by the Association of Latvian Physicians and Dentists.
The Association of Latvian Physicians and Dentists (LĀZA) has announced that Dr. Juris Miervaldis Macs, a surgeon of Latvian origin and a longtime member of the association, died in the United States on 8 October 2026 at the age of 92. The news was reported by the portal Latviesi.com. According to the association, his life was devoted to medicine, his patients and the professional education of doctors, and he kept close ties with Latvia and its medical community.
Childhood and exile
Juris Macs was born on 10 March 1934 in Riga, into the family of Edmunds Macs, an Evangelical Lutheran pastor. His father served the congregation in Limbaži before the Second World War and later continued his clerical work in exile in the United States. The events of the war and the post-war years forced the family to flee, and in 1949 they emigrated to America and settled in Washington State.
Education and career
Macs studied biology and chemistry at the College of Puget Sound in Tacoma, and in 1962 graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine. After specialising in surgery, he worked in several American cities, and his professional training and surgical practice took him to Minnesota, Chicago and California. Even so, Washington State held a special place in his life.
In 1969 he began working at Grays Harbor Community Hospital in Aberdeen, Washington State. He remained loyal to this hospital and its patients for 46 years, until he retired at the end of 2015.
