Donald Mercer Cormie (July 24, 1922 – February 20, 2010) was an American-born Canadian lawyer, financier and founder of the Principal Group.

[1] Donald Cormie was a United States Merchant Marine from 1943 to 1944 before receiving his LLM from Harvard Law School in 1946.

[5] At the time of the closures, approximately 67,000 investors were at risk of losing an estimated $500 million in funds advanced to Principal Group entities.

[6] Subsequent to the collapse of the Principal Group, Donald Cormie relocated to Arizona, and was never able to start another business.

A further ruling was made by a judge of the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta, who ruled that Donald Cormie made improper payouts totalling half a million dollars to creditors who were family members or company employees, and ordered that the creditors give back the money.