William Joseph McCormack (21 February 1933 – 8 September 2016) was

Chief of Police Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the b ...

of the

Metro Toronto Police The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is a municipal police force in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the primary agency responsible for providing law enforcement and policing services in Toronto. Established in 1834, it was the first local police ser ...

from 1989 to 1995. He succeeded Jack Marks. Earlier in his life McCormack was a marine radio operator and British colonial police officer before coming to Canada in the late 1950s.

Life and career

McCormack was born in

Beau-Bassin Beau Bassin-Rose Hill (or Beau-Bassin Rose-Hill; french: Villes sœurs; ) is a town in Mauritius, located in the Plaines Wilhems District. It is administered by the Municipal Council of Beau Bassin-Rose Hill and has a population of 147,066 habit ...

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

, then went on to graduate from Atlantic College in Dublin in 1951. McCormack went to sea and as a civilian employee of the Marconi International Marine Communication Limited aboard

British Merchant Navy The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom and comprises the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguard ...

ships where he served as a radio officer on several ships. He is the son of British Colonial Police colonel William McCormack who was decorated with an

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

by the King for his work with prison reform and children's

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...

. The younger McCormack served as a Constable in Bermuda Police Force from 1955 to 1959 before coming to Canada and joining the

Metropolitan Toronto Police The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is a municipal police force in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the primary agency responsible for providing law enforcement and policing services in Toronto. Established in 1834, it was the first local police ser ...

. Before becoming chief of police, he spent a number of years as a homicide detective in Toronto. Following his retirement, he detailed his experiences and some of his notable cases in a co-authored book. He had five children, four of whom later became police officers.

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

is the former president of the Toronto Police Association, leaving that position in 2020., Kathy is an OPP sergeant, and Jamie is a Toronto police detective. A son also named William resigned from his post as a plainclothes Toronto police officer in 2009 following an internal misconduct investigation; criminal charges for soliciting and accepting bribes in that regard were subsequently stayed for 6 years of excessive delays by Crown prosecution, with the judge laying blame on the lead police investigator. In 2007, he joined other former Toronto chiefs, including

David Boothby David J. Boothby (born 1944) is a retired Canadian police officer who served as the final chief of the Metro Toronto Police from 1995 to 1997, before the position was amalgamated into the Toronto Police Service. He served as chief until his retir ...

, Jack Marks and

Julian Fantino Julian Fantino, , ( it, Giuliano Fantino; born August 13, 1942) is a Canadian retired police official and former politician. He was the Conservative Party of Canada Member of the Parliament of Canada for the riding of Vaughan following a Nov ...

at a 50th anniversary celebration of the Toronto Police Service at the headquarters building. McCormack died on 8 September 2016 at the age of 83.

Awards

Police Exemplary Service Medal The Police Exemplary Service Medal (french: Médaille de la police pour services distingués) is a Canadian service medal for police officers. The medal honours 20 years of full-time exemplary service by police officers serving with one or more r ...

(1983) * Bar to the Police Exemplary Service Medal (1989) * Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (2002) * Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal (2013)

References

External links

The Governor General of Canada – Honours > Find a Recipient
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mccormack, William J. 1933 births 2016 deaths Toronto police chiefs Canadian people of Scottish descent