Editing David Lack (section)

==Personal life==
David Lack married [[Elizabeth Lack]] (née Silva) who was also an ornithologist. Elizabeth Silva was born in Hertfordshire in 1916 and took an early interest in music. She wished to join the Royal Academy of Music in London but the war led to her serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service as an ambulance driver in Europe. After the war she applied for work and due to her interest in birds she sent her resume to [[R. S. R. Fitter|Richard Fitter]] who passed it on to David Lack with a note "Here's another for your reject file." Lack however interviewed her and appointed her as a secretary. Noting her interest in birds, he also invited her to serve as a field assistant for studies in the [[Wytham Woods]]. She also helped in the study of swifts. One day Elizabeth did not return to her office after her observations of the swifts and David, worried that she might have fallen off a ladder, found her engrossed in observation. They became engaged in 1948 and were married on July 9, 1949. The best man was George Varley.<ref>Anderson (2013):105-107.</ref> They had four children: Peter Lack (born 1952, a biologist), [[Andrew Lack (author)|Andrew Lack]] (born 1953, also a biologist and academic), Paul Lack (born 1957, a freelance teacher), and Catherine Lack (born 1959, a university chaplain).<ref name="anderson" /> In Oxford, the Lacks initially lived in a flat in [[Park Town, Oxford]], and later on [[Boars Hill]], just south of Oxford. Lack enjoyed music and was also a fan of field hockey and tennis in which he also participated.<ref>Anderson (2013):119-107.</ref> Lack died from [[Non-Hodgkin lymphoma]] despite radiation treatments.<ref>Anderson (2013):214-215.</ref>

===Religious beliefs===
Lack's parents belonged to the Church of England, and he was an agnostic as an early adult but became a convert to [[Anglicanism]] in 1948, possibly influenced by Dan and Mary Neylan, friends at Dartington Hall.<ref>Anderson (2013):127.</ref> He sought to find a compromise between science and religion and wrote, in 1957, ''Evolutionary theory and Christian belief,'' on the relationship between Christian faith and evolutionary theory. Lack believed that evolution could not account for morality, truth, beauty, free will, self-awareness and individual responsibility.<ref>Anderson (2013):123-124.</ref> This book foreshadows, in some ways, the [[non-overlapping magisteria]] conception of the relationship between [[religion and science]] later popularised by [[Stephen Jay Gould]].

[[Arthur Cain]] remarked of him, "David Lack was the only religious man I knew at that period who did not allow his religion to dictate his view of natural selection."<ref>Cain, A. J. and Provine, W. B. (1991) "Genes and ecology in history". In Berry, R. J. ''et al.'' (eds.) ''Genes in ecology'': the 33rd Symposium of the British Ecological Society. Blackwell, Oxford. p. 9.</ref>