Zink was the son of John Steele Zink and Swannie Estelle Smith Zink. He was born and grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma and was educated at Oklahoma State University, where he earned a bachelor"s degree in mechanical engineering in 1951. After graduation, he joined the John Zink Company, which his father had founded in 1929.
By then, the company had specialized in manufacturing burners, flares, and incinerators for the petroleum and related industries. Jack received 35 patents for his inventions of combustion equipment. He continued to run the company from 1962 until 1979, when it was bought by Sunbeam Corporation.
After his father"s company was sold, Jack founded Zinco, Incorporated, later renamed Zeeco, Incorporated.
Zeeco"s headquarters are in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and the company manufactures in the United States and other global locations. The University of Tulsa recognized him in 2001 as that year"s Outstanding Leader.
Jack also served on the boards of directors for several nationally known corporations, including Telex and Sunbeam. Jack Zink was a sports enthusiast, and became especially identified with auto racing.
He became involved not only in driving his own race car, but in design and construction of the vehicles.
He first sponsored a race car in the 1952 Indianapolis 500 race, and continued to enter a car in each race until 1967. In 1957, he set a stock-auto speed record at Daytona Beach. He drove his own cars in desert off-road races from 1972 through 1980.
He was inducted into the Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1984.
Jack Zink became chairman of the John Zink Foundation, which his father, John Steele Zink, had founded. The foundation owned the John Zink ranch in Osage County, Oklahoma.
Jack"s father had started the working ranch many years before, but Jack had expanded it to 31,000 acres (13,000 ha). He also converted it to a private game preserve and recreation area.
lieutenant also contains campgrounds for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.
The Boy Scouts of America awarded him the Silver Beaver Award and Silver Buffalo Award. In 1988, he served as chairman of the Tulsa organization and was credited with raising $12.5 million in contributions.
Zink was also interested in politics. His obituary in the Tulsa World called him, "a well-known Republican (party) operative." He ran for election as a Republican Party candidate for the United States Senate in 1980, but lost the nomination to Don Nickles, who went on to win the general election.
He was a frequent volunteer for the Tulsa Area United Way and became an honorary life member of United Way.
