It is with sadness that the family of Hugh Perry McCormick Jr. ,96, of Ocean Ridge, FL and Baltimore, MD, announces his passing away peacefully in his home, surrounded by loving family on February 14, 2017. Mr. McCormick was born on August 5, 1920 to the late Mary Dove McCormick and Hugh Perry McCormick. He graduated from City College high school in 1938 as center on the Maryland state champion football team and captain of the swim team. He then graduated with a degree in economics from the Johns Hopkins University in 1942, a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and captain of the varsity football team. Enlisting in the U.S. Navy upon the U.S. entrance into WWII in 1941, he served as second officer on U.S. subchaser SC-525 in the Mediterranean and then as skipper of the SC-1369 in the Pacific until the war's end. Following the war he served in the U.S. Naval Reserve for another fifteen years, retiring at the rank of Commander.


Hugh was to meet his lifelong sweetheart, Alice Joy James, of Newton, Mississippi, at Ridgecrest Camp in North Carolina in 1939, where they were prayer partners. After a long distance romance, they were married in 1944 while Hugh was between Navy assignments and on leave from the war. They spent their honeymoon on the train from Newton to Portland, OR before his reassignment. The couple shared a blissful marriage for sixty years until her passing in 2004.

Hugh worked his entire career with McCormick & Company of Baltimore, MD the spice company started by his great uncle Willoughby McCormick in 1889. Starting in purchasing and sales and working out of the trunk of his car, he advanced his way up through the firm serving as a tea taster and credit manager, and retiring in 1983 as Assistant Director of McCormick's Special Division.

Long active in the Baltimore civic community, Hugh was a Director of Heritage Savings Association; Trustee of the Baptist Home of Maryland; and an Advisory Council member of the National Food Manufacturers Credit Association. He was also a Trustee of Brothers Brother Foundation of Pittsburgh and member of the Navy League and the Reserve Officers Association. In addition, he was a member of The Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association Executive Committee.


Hugh was a pillar of the University Baptist Church of Baltimore and attended First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach, Florida. He generously supported numerous charities, establishing a faculty Chair for Endocrinology Research at Johns Hopkins Hospital.


Following retirement Hugh and Joy joined the Elkridge Club in Baltimore and spent winters in Florida, enjoying membership and activities of the Ocean Club of Florida, Country Club of Florida, and Manalapan Yacht Club.

The Church, McCormick & Co., Hopkins, and the US Navy were all Hugh's loves. But family was the center of his life. He will be remembered by all as a modest, kind, engaging man who lived life fully and, as his dear wife, Joy, had always said "wanted to dance every dance." He was predeceased by his wife in 2004 and his brother Howard W. McCormick in 1964. He is survived by his daughters Mary Meyer and Alice Meiners of Ocean Ridge, FL and his son Hugh Perry McCormick III of Baltimore, MD. Hugh loved and took great joy in each of his seven grandchildren Chad Meyer, Janet Reynolds, Michael Lee, David Lee, Megan Yorgancioglu, Hugh McCormick, and John McCormick, and eight great-grandchildren Avery Meyer, Ellie Meyer, James Meyer, Capp Reynolds, Joy Reynolds, Mason Lee, Brianna Lee, and Ana Yorgancioglu. Hugh is also survived by his loving niece Nancy McCormick Odette as well as beloved members of the extended James family. A celebration of life will be held at University Baptist Church, 3501 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD on Friday, March 31st at 11:00 AM. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the ALS Clinic or the Division of Endocrinology at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Building Families for Children of Columbia, MD, or the Brother's Brother Foundation of Pittsburgh, PA.