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Mark Zuckerberg's Dad Still a Dobbs Ferry Dentist

DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. – Mark Zuckerberg may be made a multibillionaire by the Facebook IPO this week, but despite his success, Mark's father, Dr. Edward Zuckerberg, still runs a dentistry practice out of the family's modest Dobbs Ferry home.

“He strikes me as somebody who really doesn’t put on an act,” said Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner.  “He’s a nice guy, people view him as a dentist first and then the father of Mark Zuckerberg second.”

That could change after Facebook's IPO on Friday, in which Dr. Zuckerberg, who owns stock in his son's company, stands to gain upwards of $60 million. But local residents who know the dentist don't think so. He's been running his dental practice from his home near the Saw Mill River Parkway for more than 20 years, and those who know him have said he is down to earth and likes to fly under the radar.

“He’s a nice guy, more reserved,” said Chong Park, who works at Pride Cleaners in Dobbs Ferry.  “He’s very low profile considering his son, but he’s always been like that.”

Park has worked at Pride Cleaners for years and said the Zuckerbergs are loyal customers who have been doing business there even longer.

“I’ve been here for about 10 years and they’ve been coming here for about 15 years,” he said.  “My mom remembers Mark coming in when he was a little guy.”

In an interview on Feiner’s radio show on WVOX last year Zuckerberg touched on many of the questions he is asked on a daily basis, including what the biggest influences were on his son Mark.

“The fact that I’ve always been technologically oriented in the office, I’ve always had the latest high tech toys if you want to call them and my office was computerized very early on,” Zuckerberg said in the radio interview with Feiner.  “I was one of the first dental offices in the country to have computerization back in 1985 so my kids all grew up around the office and were all exposed to computers and had the advantage of being exposed to technology early on.”

Zuckerberg, who is known as Painless Dr. Z, is fluent in social media. His practice has a Facebook page and he has a Twitter account. He tweets frequently about dental issues, such as the five "little-known benefits of regular brushing and flossing" or dentists of note, including "a British dentist and mother of three will lend her talents to the athletes of the 2012 Olympics."  

Painless Dr. Z's Twitter profile reads: "Cutting edge General Dentist; NYU Dental '78; early technology adopter, now lecturing dentists on technology integration and Social Media Marketing."

Zuckerberg did not respond to repeated requests for an interview.

Despite having a world famous last name, Zuckerberg told Feiner he is still a regular Dobbs Ferry resident and enjoys chatting with his patients around town.

“When you do practice where you live your certainly exposing yourself to a lot of contact with people during routine supermarket runs and other activities that branch out, so I’m very proud of the service that we offer in the office and I’m always proud to contact my patients outside the office in non-dental settings,” he said.

In that same interview Zuckerberg said that this low key attitude runs in the family as his son Mark is just as humble despite having created Facebook.

“One thing about Mark is he’s a very quiet guy and doesn’t like to boast about his accomplishments,” he said.  “I’m still pretty much the same person.  I think most people who know me will agree with that.”

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