Remembering Charlie MacCormack

October 27, 1941 – May 22, 2025

Not long before Charlie MacCormack passed away last May at the age of 83, his eldest son, Cameron, asked what he was most proud of as he reflected on his life.

“All of the things that didn’t happen,” Charlie quickly responded.

At first blush, it was a surprising response from a man renowned internationally as a humanitarian and global development leader. During his 18 years as the head of Save the Children U.S., Charlie had overseen the organization’s expansion to more than 50 countries worldwide.

“He went on to explain that he’d wake up in the middle of the night, thinking ‘Oh my God, there’s going to be some problem’ — trouble at a border, or at a checkpoint,” Cameron Ross-MacCormack recalled.  “He was constantly concerned about the safety of employees internationally. So, he’d get up, write notes, send emails, make phone calls, whatever it took so that the things he’d feared might happen, wouldn’t.”

The world will never know all of the calamities that Charlie headed off, but what is indisputable is the staggering amount of good he did do.

Under the Save the Children banner, he led the creation of a unified global movement for children’s rights and well-being. He held leadership roles across many of the world’s foremost humanitarian and development bodies, served as chair of InterAction—the largest alliance of U.S.-based international nonprofits — and later joined the boards of World Learning and Malaria No More.

Charting his own course

Born in 1941, Charlie knew at an early age that becoming a police officer like his father wasn’t his calling. And the prospect of working at the local spoon factory – a path taken by many of his peers in Melrose, Mass. – held little appeal. So, during high school, he honed his caddying skills and used the money he earned to go to Middlebury College.

After college, Charlie married the late Susan M. Ross, a leading local philanthropist who served for 15 years as President and CEO of Fairfield County’s Community Foundation. They raised two sons, Cameron and his younger brother, Fraser Ross-MacCormack.

In his later years, Charlie turned his attention to improving lives closer to home, serving for several years on the Community Foundation’s board of directors.

“Up until then, I think he figured that with mom at the Community Foundation she pretty much had things covered on the home front,” Fraser said. “I’m sure he loved it. Transitioning to a local focus for him was probably fun. It required a similar skillset, but a completely new venture where he could directly impact local people that needed assistance.”

A legacy that lives on

In his will, Charlie made a significant estate gift into the Susan M. Ross Fund for Great Leadership, which was established to honor Susan’s outstanding fifteen-year leadership of the Foundation as President & CEO from 1996 to 2011.

The fund continues in perpetuity, providing essential funding to the Center for Nonprofit Excellence (CNE) that was launched by Susan during her tenure. CNE programming offers low or no cost training and capacity building guidance to local nonprofits, and includes the annual Susan M. Ross Leadership Institute workshop.

While they mourn the recent loss of their father, sons Cameron and Fraser also continue to draw inspiration from their parents’ unwavering dedication to giving back, even in the face of personal tragedy. Early in their marriage Charles and Susan had endured an unthinkable loss when their first child, a daughter, Ainsley, died in infancy.

Throughout the decades-long grieving process that followed, the couple remained committed to one another and their essential work of improving the lives of others, making a deep impression on their two sons.

“Charlie loved Susan so much and the pain from losing their child was immense,” Cam said. “But I think the lesson is you can turn love, or pain, into action. That could be through serving a community foundation or helping children around the world. My parents always found a way to turn what was happening in their lives into action in a positive way.”

Charlie MacCormack and Susan Ross did just that. And our world, and our community, are far better for it.