Professional who navigated worlds of business, politics, culture
Cynthia Naughton McCormick’s intelligence, practical problem solving and quick, wry wit allowed her to glide seamlessly through the worlds of business, culture, government and politics.
Ms. McCormick worked most recently for the Pittsburgh Opera as its director of development and external affairs. From 2004 until April 2014, she served as associate vice president for government affairs for Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.
Ms. McCormick, 61, of Shadyside, died of ovarian cancer on Saturday at Family Hospice in Lawrenceville.
Grant Oliphant, president and chief executive officer of The Heinz Endowments, called Ms. McCormick “a very smart, socially engaged, Elsie Hillman-esque type figure” whom he met in the late 1980s while serving as press secretary to U.S. Sen. John Heinz.
“I’ve seen her work on a variety of community issues and with a variety of community organizations,” Mr. Oliphant said. “She has managed to navigate back and forth in the political space, always focusing and trying to bring people together in the middle.”
Mr. Oliphant admired Ms. McCormick’s kind, generous nature.
“There is a type of person that I sort of think of as quintessentially Pittsburgh,” he said, because they are “practical and pragmatic and put themselves on the line through their own philanthropy.”
In 2007, while Mr. Oliphant ran The Pittsburgh Foundation, Ms. McCormick and her spouse of 22 years, Lois Pruitt, established the Pruitt McCormick Fund there. The fund awards grants for cancer research and elder care.
“They have also given a lot to the arts and to organizations that work in food insecurity,” he said.
Ms. McCormick and Ms. Pruitt were formally married in 2014.
A Pittsburgh native, Ms. McCormick grew up in the eastern suburbs and Westport, Conn. She was educated at Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Oakland and Monroeville and John Carroll University near Cleveland. She began her career in Washington, D.C., as a legislative assistant and press secretary for U.S. Rep. Charles Vanik, an Ohio Democrat, then worked for Texas Sen. W. Phillip Gramm, a Republican, and finally for Rep. Claudine Schneider, a Rhode Island Republican.
Ms. McCormick returned to Pittsburgh in the 1980s and served as a staff consultant to Allegheny County Commissioner Barbara Hafer. One of Ms. McCormick’s main tasks was developing a process to address overcrowding at the Allegheny County Jail. She said she worked at the jail for “approximately four years, seven months and three days.”
In 1988, she became director of government relations for the Oncology Nursing Society. Eight years later, she became director of marketing for the Port Authority of Allegheny County.
A stylish dresser, Ms. McCormick typically wore crisp white blouses and tailored clothes. At her most casual, she favored sky blue Belgian loafers with yellow piping.
Paula Kellerman worked with Ms. McCormick for more than 17 years on Pittsburgh’s civil service commission.
“She has always displayed professionalism and integrity. She has been a constant support for me and has encouraged me as I’ve progressed in my human resources career. I could always count on Cynthia to be there anytime I needed her and to answer me honestly and wisely,” Ms. Kellerman said.
Barbara Eichenlaub, of Fox Chapel, met Ms. McCormick 49 years ago in seventh grade at Our Lady of Mercy Academy.
“Our education … made us feel that our voices were valid,” Mrs. Eichenlaub said, adding that their graduating class comprised 32 young women.
“We pushed the envelope a lot. No one got arrested and we all graduated on time, which was a good thing,” she said.
In September 2010, Mrs. Eichenlaub recalled, she encountered Ms. McCormick and Ms. Pruitt in a square in Florence, Italy.
“They knew where to get the good leather gloves. You just don’t expect to run into someone you know in the plaza near the Duomo,” she said.
True to form, Ms. McCormick relayed a Pittsburgh backstory, noting that this particular Florence glovemaker supplied Joseph Horne Co. department stores.
Besides Ms. Pruitt, Ms. McCormick is survived by a sister, Pamela M. Burger, of Lewes, Del., and four nephews. Friends may call from 4 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday at John A. Freyvogel, 4900 Centre Ave., in Shadyside. Interment will be private.
A celebration of her life will be held at noon Wednesday at Calvary Episcopal Church, 315 Shady Ave., in Shadyside. Memorials are requested to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, 1 North Linden St., Duquesne, PA 15110.