The Missouri Chapter of the American College of Surgeons, Inc. was born on September 10, 1967. In May 1966, Dr. James Spencer from the College headquarters held multiple meetings across Missouri to evaluate the interest for a Missouri chapter. The Missouri ACS governors at that time were Drs. Gainey, Maher, Madlin and Reynolds. They developed a formal survey, which was sent to all Fellows of the ACS in Missouri to evaluate interest in forming a Missouri Chapter. By modern standards, the response was incredible, with two thirds of the ballots returned of which 80% were in favor of forming a state chapter. With this mandate, the Missouri ACS govenors and other surgeons met in July 1967 in St. Louis and formed a nominating committee. An organizational meeting of Fellows was then held in Columbia on September 10, 1967, with election of officers, appointment of committees and adoption of bylaws.

The first officers elected were Carl Lischer, St. Louis, President; Charles P. McGinty, Cape Girardeau, President-Elect; and John Spratt, Jr., Columbia, Secretary. All were general surgeons with an interest in cancer. Dr. Spratt was named the State Liaison Fellow for the ACS, followed the next year by Dr. McGinty.

The first Missouri-ACS Council Meeting was held in Columbia on December 17, 1967, and a second was in St. Louis on May 12, 1968. The first annual meeting of the Chapter was held at Tan-Tar-A on Lake of the Ozarks in May 1969.