Born in Avonmore, Samuel Williams Jack was a son of Samuel Williams Jack and Iva Arveta Nolf. His paternal grandfather was Andrew Plummer Jack, an oil entrepreneur and founder of the company that evolved into the S.W. Jack Drilling Company, at one time the largest independently-owned natural gas producer east of the Mississippi. Jack was a member of the Council of Trustees at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, president of the Indiana Country Club, a 32nd Degree Mason and member of Masonic Syria Temple in Pittsburgh, and a member of the Indiana Elks lodge. He served as director and former chairman of the Board of Directors of the Savings as Trust Company of Pennsylvania and was also a member of the board at Indiana Hospital.
His many civic activities included the sponsorship of the Sam and Nell Jack Artist Lecture Series at IUP; extensive financial support of the restoration of the Blue Room in John Sutton Hall; and support of a range of Indiana-area youth activities, including the American Legion baseball program. He was also instrumental in the construction and development of the S.W. Jack Ambulance Center as well as the S.W. Jack Co-generation Plant at the University. A three-year veteran of World War II, Jack received the Purple Heart for service with the U.S. Army Infantry in Europe.
Samuel Jack attended Avonmore Elementary School, Kiskiminetas Springs School in Saltsburg, and Greenbriar Military Academy. Samuel Jack received numerous professional and civic awards, including an honorary doctorate from IUP in 1984 and Outstanding Alumni Service awards from the Kiski School. The Kiski athletic complex was named the Samuel W. Jack Field House in 1983. He and his wife, Nell Gibson Jack, were named “The Indiana Countians 1983” by the Indiana County Chamber of Commerce. He also chaired an IUP Foundation campaign. Annually he hosted the clients and staff of the Indiana County Workshop and the Progressive Workshop of Armstrong County for a Christmas party. He was also a member of Graystone Presbyterian Church in Indiana.