Daniel W. MacCormack – Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army

by

Government Official

DANIEL MACCORMACK DEAD IN CAPITAL
Head of the Immigration and Naturalization Service Since March 1933
Soldier and Financier
Founder of Fiduciary Trust Company Here
His Death “Desperate Loss,” Says Miss Perkins

WASHINGTON, Friday, January 1, 1937 – Daniel W. MacCormack, head of the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the Labor Department, died suddenly early today at Garfield Hospital.  He was 56 years old.  He had held the post of Commissioner since March 1933.

His death resulted from acute peritonitis after an operation two weeks ago.

He was a native of Scotland, but had lived in this country since childhood since childhood, making New York his legal residence.

His death was announced by Secretary Perkins, who said it was a “desperate loss both to the department and to the country.”  She said he had done a “remarkable piece of work in reorganizing the service and in humanizing and making it more intelligent.”

His reorganization work included combining the immigration and naturalization groups into one service.

Edward J. Shaughnessy, Deputy Commissioner, will serve as acting commissioner until a successor is named by President Roosevelt.

Among Colonel MacCormack’s diversified interests before he became United States Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization were those of being a soldier, engineer, transportation executive, financier and representative of Persia on the Council and Assembly of the League of Nations.

He was a founder of the Fiduciary Trust Company and the Fiduciar Corporation of New York, serving as president of both organizations from June 1930 until named to the Federal post.

A native of Wick, Scotland, he came to the United States at the age of 9.  His education was received at Boston College, Robert Gordon’s College (Aberdeen), and at St. Laurent’s College, Montreal.

In the Philippine Insurrection he served with the Twenty-Sixth Infantry and during the World War as an executive with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Transport Service.

In 1918 he was also executive officer of the Shipping Control Committee and the general inspector in charge of the reorganization of the Army Transport Service in France.

The following year he went to Russia on a special mission for the Peace Conference.  He resigned his commission as Captain in the Army in 1922 and served as a member of the American Financial Mission to Persia from that year to 1927.  During this period he was director of internal revenue for the Persian Government, director of alimentation in the famines of 1925 to 1927, a member of the Russo-Persian Tariff Commission and represented Persia as the League the last year.

Colonel MacCormack organized and administered the receivership of the Irving Trust Company at New York in 1929 and 1930.

He was a commander of the Order of the Crown of Italy, and officer of the Order of the Black Star (France), and a member of the advisory board of the Yorkville Music School.  Also a past commander of City Club (New York) Post of the American Legion and a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, of the Central Asian Society and of the New York Society of Military and Naval Officers of the World War.

In 1920 he was married to Miss Mary Hyde of Northampton, Massachusetts.

OFFICIALS IN CAPITAL AT MACCORMACK RITES
Diplomats, Heads of the Labor Department and Members of Congress Attend

WASHINGTON, January 4, 1937 – Colonel Daniel W. MacCormack, Commissioner General of Immigration and Naturalization, was buried today with military honors in the National Cemetery at Arlington, after funeral services attended by members of Congress, members of the diplomatic corps and high officials of his own and other departments of the government.

The Rev. Edmond J. Fontaine of St. Paul’s Church conducted a brief service at the MacCormack home and also the service at Arlington where volleys were fired and Taps sounded.

Secretary of Labor Perkins, Edward F. McGrady, Assistant Secretary; chief of bureaus in the Department of Labor, eight of whom served as pallbearers; William J. Carr, Assistant Secretary of State and Colonels Jacobson, Mitchell, Biscoe and Eichelberger of the War Department were among those who attended.

Others were Representatives Dickstein, O’Day and Bloom of New York; Henry O. Chalkey, Commercial Counselor of the British Embassy and Dr. Eugenio Nonardelli, Counselor for emigration of the Italian Embassy
MACCORMACK, DANIEL W
LT COL TRANSPORTATION CORPS, USA
DATE OF DEATH: 01/01/1937
BURIED AT: SECTION 6  SITE 9187
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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