MIT. He originated the proposal that the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics be used as the basis for a new space agency, which eventually became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. In 1964, the Governor of Massachusetts, Endicott Peabody, appointed McCormack as Chairman of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. In October 1965, he was appointed chairman of the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT), with a $125,000 salary. To allow himself to concentrate on his new position, he resigned all his company directorships, along with his post at MIT. He attended his first board meeting in Washington, DC, in his dinner jacket, having flown from Los Angeles after a speaking engagement. As head of a quasi-government organization, McCormack strove to employ the company's resources to carry out the policies of Congress and the President, and was able to persuade Congress to declassify plans for a domestic satellite network so he could consult with the television networks. He retired as chairman due to ill health in 1970, although he remained a director. McCormack died at his winter home in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, on 3 January 1975, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He was survived by his wife, Eleanor née Morrow; his son, Major James R. McCormack, who was stationed at Fort Rucker, Alabama; and his daughter, Anne M. Stanton, who was living at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Notes References 1910 births 1975 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II American Rhodes Scholars Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Honorary Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority people MIT School of Engineering alumni Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army) Recipients of the Legion of Merit People from Jackson Parish, Louisiana United States Military Academy alumni United States Air Force generals United States Army generals United States Army Command and General Staff College alumni Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford