Zack may have been an Arkansas native, but he became a Lexington icon, leading the Lexington Philharmonic from the podium for 37 years.
Known by many for the celebrated yearly patriotic and Christmas concerts he conducted, the maestro told the late Nick Lawrence, host of WUKY's Curtains@8, in 2015 that his career started with a surprise entry into a conducting contest by his brother. The experience conducting Beethoven's First Symphony and winning that contest set him on a course that led to the Bluegrass.
"Then I came to Lexington and I got the job. I had an unlisted phone number, and they wanted to get rid of me but they couldn't figure out how to call me so I just kept staying around," he joked. "The (philharmonic) is one of the few instrumental places that I've been, other than the Warren Chamber Orchestra which I also conducted, that loved to perform. Find an orchestra that loves to perform and let them perform."
A friend, Carol Russell, wrote on Facebook that Zack "slipped into Heaven his morning," just days after his 90th birthday.
The Lexington Philharmonic wrote that Zack's influence "extends far beyond the years of his tenure and remains woven into the fabric of this orchestra."