He became known for his progressive Multiple Management system and for his civic involvement in the city of Baltimore and the state of Maryland at large.
He lived with his family in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Birmingham, Alabama, Paris and back in the States in Baltimore.
After regular education in those places, he finished his secondary schooling in the Class of 1915 at The Baltimore City College, an all-boys institution, the nation's third oldest public high school, founded 1839, and then located in its second building on the site at North Howard and West Centre Streets.
[2] After gaining sales experience in the Middle West and Pacific Coast section, McCormick was appointed head of the import-export department in Baltimore.
Robert G. Hess, chairman of the Gantt Medal Board of Award, gave a presentation, that the award was offered him for being "a dynamic leader in business; a successful practitioner of modern principles of scientific management and valuable contributor of accepted improvements to the management profession, encompassing the humanities without sacrifice of profitable corporate performance and in addition, to influential leadership in the local community and national affairs.
"[3] President and General Manager, Wright Machinery Company, Division of Sperry Rand Corporation, and will make the presentation.
The elder McCormick is said to have run the company with an "iron hand" [4] and during the Great Depression he cut salaries across the board, first by 25%, then a further 10%.
Multiple Management was a profit-sharing plan designed as a way to develop and promote leaders from within the organization, as well as to solicit input from a wider cross-section of employees.
[4] Suggestions ranged from new bottles and tins, "snappier" labels, and improvements in machinery, inventory, and quality control.
"That same year, Business Week reported: "To this date, more than 500 companies in 46 countries have made inquiries or adopted the MM plan.
In a dryly appreciative biographical sketch subtitled "Man With A Mission" in Baltimore magazine, G. H. Pouder wrote, "Charles Perry McCormick believes that achievement comes only with serving and for that reason has tackled an appalling list of jobs for the public good, which can only be described as headaches of the first water.
"[5] Similarly, his obituary in The Evening Sun began, "It took 69 lines of type in Who's Who to list Charles P. McCormick's memberships, awards and attainments and only the more important ones at that."
McCormick painted seascapes, drew his own Christmas cards, and carved wooden statuettes as gifts.
The tycoon who genuinely wanted to be called by his first name, by anybody: who likes for his executives to live in the same uniform housing district; who in the old Baltimore tradition wasn't afraid to list his uptown apartment and his Sherwood Forest place in the phone book - this was a man who bartered in teas, spices and humanity, whom lived his ideals to the full by his word and even more abundantly, by his example.