Dr. Markus Sherry returns to the island
After an 8 to 10-year gap from practicing dentistry and “overseeing” his Riverdale Dental offices, Dr. Markus Sherry has returned to the Riverdale Dental offices on Pine Island to practice dentistry.
“After a few health issues, I’m happy to say I’ve been seeing patients for a while now,” Sherry said.
Sherry was born in New York City and raised in Cocoa Beach, Florida.
“I was just finishing high school when we landed on the moon in July 1969,” Sherry said. “Living so close to NASA at the same time as the moon landing, I was originally headed for something in the space industry. Also, when I was a sophomore in high school, NASA selected 30 students to be in what was called the ‘Science Horizon Seminar’ – I was one of those 30 students. We were able to go out to the Vertical Assembly Building and watch the Saturn V being built. We got to see things that were way ahead of their time.”
A few years after the moon landing, the space industry went into decline and Sherry decided to change his career plans and enter dental school. He went on to study 8 years at University of Florida majoring in chemistry.
“I was looking for a way to serve my country,” Sherry said. “It was the end of the Vietnam War and I decided to go with the National Health Service Corp. This led me to become director of the Lee County Migrant Health Center which evolved into the Family Health Centers. Then in 1980 the government let me go.”
In the late 1970s, Sherry met a man at a baseball game.
“He was the Pine Island Santa Claus 40 years ago,” Sherry said. “He is the one that introduced me to Pine Island.”
A short time after leaving the Lee County Migrant Health Center, Sherry opened his dental practice on Pine Island.
“I started my practice in 1980 in about 1,000 square feet of office space,” Sherry said. “Back then there was little for the youth of Pine Island to do and many kids got into trouble. But the one thing about Pine island is everyone is so community oriented. A group of us parents held a meeting and started the Pine Island Little League. I was the president and founder and those moms and dads built the Little League to what it is today.”
Sherry had been experiencing symptoms of fatigue for several years and in 2002 was diagnosed with cancer. In the decade since, he has received numerous chemo treatments and slowly returned to health.
“When I started my practice, many of my patients were in their 60s,” Sherry said. “Now that I’m in my 60s I have patients in their 90s. What I’d like people to know is, while we are doing some renovations to the offices, we are, and have always been, committed to giving our patients the highest quality of care. Integrating your family, your community and your business all on Pine Island, well it doesn’t get any better than this. That’s been the joy of having a career here on Pine island.”