William J. McCormack, Mauritian-born Canadian police chief, Died at 83

  Military

William J. McCormack was born in  1933, in Beau-Bassin, Mauritius and died on September 8, 2016.

He was Chief of Police of the Metro Toronto Police from 1989 to 1995.

He succeeded Jack Marks.

At a young age, McCormack was a marine radio operator and British colonial police officer before coming to Canada in the late 1950s.

He graduated from Atlantic College in Dublin in 1951.

William J. McCormack went to sea and as a civilian employee of the Marconi International Marine Communication Limited aboard British Merchant Navy ships as a radio officer on a ship that ferried troops to and from Korea during the Korean War.

William J. McCormack was the son of British Colonial Police colonel William McCormack who was decorated with an MBE by the King for his work with prison reform and children’s polio.

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

Before he became chief of police, William J. McCormack 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 was the more recent president of the Toronto Police Association, Kathy is an OPP sergeant, and Jamie is a Toronto police detective.

And 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.

During 2007, he joined other former Toronto chiefs, including David Boothby, Jack Marks and Julian Fantino at a 50th anniversary celebration of the Toronto Police Service at the headquarters building

William J. McCormack passed away at 83 years old.