Bennett York is a native of Mississippi, born in 1941 to W.T. York, a school superintendent and Clara V. York, a homemaker. He attended the University of Mississippi and received his Doctor of Dental Surgery from the University of Tennessee. For two years he served as Chief of Oral Surgery at Mather United States Air Force Hospital in Sacramento, California. He moved back to Mississippi in 1970 and established a private Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery practice in Hattiesburg.

York is still actively involved with his oral surgery clinic, practicing 3 days a week. For the last 37 years, York has devoted all of his time away from his oral surgery practice acquiring, constructing, and developing real estate.