McCormick, Chauncey, 1884-1954.

Member, United States Food Administration mission to Poland, 1919.

Chicago businessman and philanthropist.

Chauncey McCormick was born in 1884 to William G. and Eleanor Brooks McCormick. He was a grandson of William S. McCormick, a founder of the McCormick Reaper company. In 1914 Chauncey McCormick married Marion Deering, whose family owned a rival business which had merged with McCormick Reaper in 1902 to form the International Harvester Company. A close family, Chauncey and Marion raised their three sons C. Deering, Brooks, and Roger between their homes in Chicago and Wheaton, Illinois, and Seal Harbor, Maine. Starting in 1926, McCormick was a director of Harvester International. He was also president of the Miami Corporation investment firm. McCormick attended Groton School and graduated from Yale in 1907. Married in Paris in 1914, he joined the American Expeditionary Force in France during World War I, where he worked to supply medical attention and food to French refugee children. In 1918, he was sent to Poland by Herbert Hoover to organize food relief. He became a life-long advocate of the Polish people, working again for Polish relief during World War II. He received recognition for his wartime service from both the French and Polish governments. McCormick's post-war life was devoted mostly to philanthropic organizations, particularly the Art Institute of Chicago, where he was vice-president from 1932-1944 and president from 1944 until his death. He organized such major projects as the 1933 Century of Progress art exhibit and the1946 Masterpieces of English Painting exhibit. When the Institute faced its first financial emergency, he headed a fundraising campaign that successfully raised over a million dollars. McCormick was also active in child welfare groups like the Illinois Children's Home and Aid society from 1943-1952, and in the mid-1940s campaigned to reform adoption laws. His other non-profit involvement included work for the American Foundation for the Blind, the Alexander Hamilton Memorial, and the McCormick Theological Seminary. While he never ran for public office, McCormick was an active member of the Republican Party, a delegate to the 1936 Republican convention, and highly critical of New Deal initiatives. He remained close friends with Herbert Hoover, and continuously supported the former president's projects and political career. A devout Christian, McCormick was a life-long member and elder of the Presbyterian Church. He died of a heart attack in Seal Harbor, Maine, in 1954.