The Tracy & Ken McCormick Endowment is a PCF Endowment Builder fund, which provides unrestricted support for PCF’s local grantmaking programs.
A Shared Professional Path
Tracy grew up in Iowa City, Iowa, where her father’s family started a bank in the 1930s. She attended the University of Michigan, majoring in economics and journalism, and received a master’s in economics from the London School of Economics. Noting that “banking is in (her) family DNA,” she joined J.P. Morgan in New York after graduate school in 1984: “I was motivated to try banking out on a bigger stage.” J.P. Morgan was her professional home for 17 years, working in Corporate Finance and Mergers & Acquisitions in the New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles offices.
Like Tracy, Ken also has a background in journalism and economics. He was born and raised in Altadena and attended local public schools before heading to Harvard College, where he studied English History. He worked as a journalist after college, first in Boston and then in Pasadena, where he started a small newspaper focused on the schools and community development. He later attended Stanford, where he earned degrees in Finance (MBA) and Economics (MA). His new career path as an economist (and then banker) in San Francisco and Los Angeles eventually led him to London, where he focused on merchant banking and later landed in New York City with J.P. Morgan.
The couple leveraged their professional skills to establish a real estate company, based in California, more than 20 years ago. They spent several years in New Mexico and Colorado assisting community banks following the 2007 banking crisis.
A Family Focus on life in Pasadena
Tracy and Ken have four children, three of whom are married, and four grandchildren. Their youngest child graduated from college in 2024. Their children started their lives in Pasadena and still feel attached to it, grateful for their early schooling and shaped and nurtured by Pasadena’s sense of place and inclusion.
Tracy and Ken generously focus their time on the Pasadena area, with deep interest in the arts, education, and livable neighborhoods. After years of service to their children’s schools, they’ve also become very involved with The Huntington Library, the Pasadena Playhouse, and the Playhouse Village business district. “What motivates us both is the intersection of Pasadena’s humanity and its vibrancy. Pasadena has the institutions and attractions of a large city with the look and feel of a small town – individuals still very much matter here and make a difference.”
Tracy joined the PCF Board in 2023 after being introduced to the organization by two good friends. “The more I learned about the organization, the more impressed I became. PCF has an impactful and inspiring mission, outstanding leadership, and sound corporate governance that will allow it to help Pasadena thrive for decades to come.”
The Power of Endowment
Endowments are the cornerstone of PCF’s mission to build hometown legacies. The corpus of each endowed fund is invested with PCF’s portfolio for long-term growth. Each year, the endowments generate the funds that support PCF’s local grantmaking, which enriches the arts community, protects our environment, provides health care and critical social services, and bolsters public education in Pasadena. Endowments are permanent legacies for our community; these funds will continue to grow and provide philanthropic support forever. Learn more about creating an endowment at PCF.
Created June 2023