Buren Herbert McCormack was an American newspaper executive.
Background
Buren Herbert ("Mac") McCormack was born in Jamestown, Indiana. He was the son of Kise R. McCormack and Louella May Cook. His father owned a tailoring and cleaning business in Indianapolis. McCormack's contact with the newspaper business began early. As a five-year-old in Jamestown, he delivered bundles of the Jamestown Press from the printing plant to the post office for five cents per week. When his family moved to Crawfordsville, Indiana, in 1917, he became a carrier for the Crawfordsville Journal and the Indianapolis News. In 1925, the family moved to Indianapolis.
Education
In 1926, McCormack graduated from Shortridge High School. Having won a Rector scholarship based on his academic performance at Shortridge, McCormack entered DePauw University in 1926. An English major, he spent four years on the staff of the student newspaper, The DePauw, becoming news editor in his senior year. He also wrote for the DePauw Magazine and The Yellow Crab. In 1930, he received a B. A. degree with distinction.
Career
Personal and institutional links helped McCormack become a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in 1931, although he had taken only one journalism course as an undergraduate. He knew Bernard ("Barney") Kilgore, another Journal reporter, who had been a coworker on The DePauw. Both were hired by Kenneth Craven ("Casey") Hogate, another DePauw alumnus. McCormack became part of a group of DePauw University graduates who rose through the ranks and dominated the newspaper for the next four decades. Throughout his career, he followed Hogate, Kilgore, and William F. Kerby, a graduate of the University of Michigan, into positions of higher authority. During the 1930's and 1940's, McCormack helped widen the Journal's audience from members of the New York financial community to businesspersons nationwide. His clear and simple writing style fit well into the strategy that Hogate and Kilgore wished to adopt at the Journal: to produce financial news for the non-specialist and specialist alike. Between 1931 and 1943, McCormack was a copy desk man, chief of the copy desk, feature writer, and banking and financial news editor. In 1934, he helped inaugurate, and became the first regular writer of, the "What's News" column, a front-page summary of non-business news deemed important to business. During the 1940's and early 1950's, McCormack accepted increased editorial responsibility. He became assistant managing editor in 1943 and managing editor in 1946. In April 1950, he was named senior associate editor in charge of editorials, and in June 1951 he became executive editor of Dow Jones news services and publications. Because he did not possess a flair for editorial management, he had limited success. His tendency toward meticulous writing provided a barrier to effective management of writers. Nevertheless, McCormack accomplished enough to deserve credit along with Hogate, Kilgore, and Kerby for making the Wall Street Journal a nationally prominent business daily. McCormack had much greater success when he moved to the business side of publishing in 1955. He became treasurer of the Journal that year and added the title of business manager in 1956. He accepted responsibility for keeping track of worldwide innovations in printing and data transmission and incorporated some of them into the Journal's reorganized production department. As a result of his efforts, in May 1962 the Journal placed in operation the nation's first newspaper plant designed for facsimile printing, at Riverside, California.
This and other improvements enabled the paper to publish simultaneously in nine plants throughout the country. McCormack's talent for directing specialized projects greatly benefited the paper. McCormack was involved in the inauguration, on February 4, 1962, of the National Observer, a weekly news magazine targeted at young readers and published by Dow Jones, the firm that owned the Journal. In charge of circulation sales at the outset, he wholeheartedly supported this publication, most likely because of his interest in education. Throughout the late 1950's and the 1960's, McCormack received numerous promotions, becoming vice-president in 1957, editorial director in 1958, and general manager in 1961. He was named a director of Dow Jones in 1965, and its executive vice-president in 1966. He held the last two posts until his death. McCormack pursued a number of non-business interests. Most notably, from February 1955 to October 1968, he served on the board of trustees of the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, New York, and was chairman for twelve of those years.
Achievements
McCormack was national president of Sigma Delta Chi, the professional journalistic society, during the period 1961-1962. He helped revitalize that organization, which had lost its focus during the 1950's. He became a trustee of DePauw University in October 1969. He died in Irvington-on-Hudson, N. Y.
Personality
McCormack was a tall, energetic man known for his grace under pressure, for his diligence and humility, and for his resounding laugh. He exemplified the post-World War II organization man who was a loyal and willing team member.
Interests
Sport & Clubs
A natural athlete, he played varsity tennis. Years later, he concentrated on golf and curling.
Connections
On October 20, 1933, McCormack married Kathryn Tofaute; they had three children. Kathryn died in 1965, and in 1966 McCormack married Edna Hanson Marshall.
