Dr David J. Coynik

Dr. David Joseph Coynik, Lowell resident and dermatologist, filmmaker, teacher and author, died Thursday, August 14th, at Liberty Village of Peru.  He was 76 years old. 

Dr. Coynik is survived by his cousins Jane (Terrando) Buckner and Tom Terrando of Texas; Mary (Terrando) Root of Georgia; Julie (Terrando) Striebel of Ohio; and David Hart, Daniel Hart and Michael Hart of Wisconsin.  He was preceded in death by his mother, Inez M. (Terrando) Coynik; his father, Frank M. Coynik; and his partner, Dr. Leonard F. Papiez. 

Dr. Coynik attended the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago and served as an intern from 1976 to 1977 at Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago.  He fulfilled his residency in Dermatology from 1978 through 1981 at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, before establishing his Dermatology practice in his native Illinois Valley in the 1980s.   

Prior to medical school, Dr. Coynik was an amateur filmmaker, author and teacher of film and the performing arts.  He wrote and published two books on the subject—“Moviemaking, A Worktext for Super 8 Film Production”, Loyola University Press, 1974; and “Real to Reel”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1976—both of which were used as textbooks in secondary and post-secondary film production courses.  Coynik taught film in several Chicago-area high schools and small colleges. 

Services for Dr. Coynik are set for 1 p.m. Saturday, August 26th at the Ptak Funeral Home in Peru, IL.  Visitation will precede the service beginning at 12 Noon. 

 In lieu of flowers memorials may directed to St bede Academy.