Win McCormack (Winthrop Laflin McCormack) is an American banking heir, political activist, publisher, and editor from Oregon.
He is editor-in-chief of Tin House magazine and Tin House Books, the former publisher of Oregon Magazine, founder and treasurer of MediAmerica, Inc., and a co-founder of Mother Jones magazine. He serves on the board of directors of the journal New Perspectives Quarterly. His political and social writings have appeared in Oregon Humanities, Tin House, The Nation, The Oregonian, and Oregon Magazine. McCormack's investigative coverage of the Rajneeshee movement was awarded a William Allen White Commendation from the University of Kansas and the City and Regional Magazine Association.
As a political activist, McCormack served as Chair of the Oregon Steering Committee for Gary Hart's 1984 presidential campaign. He was chair of the Democratic Party of Oregon's President's Council and a member of the Obama for President Oregon Finance Committee. Additionally, McCormack sits on the Board of Overseers for Emerson College, and is a co-founder of the Los AngelesâÂÂbased Liberty Hill Foundation.
In February 2016, McCormack purchased The New Republic magazine from Chris Hughes.
McCormack is the son of attorney Alfred McCormack and Winifred Byron Smith McCormack.
Reed Magazine reports that, after his motherâÂÂs death, he inherited money that helped him acquire Oregon Times magazine. He has been described as âÂÂan heir to a midwestern banking fortune.â On his motherâÂÂs side, a published genealogy identifies Winifred Byron Smith as the child of Walter Byron Smith. A contemporary profile of Walter Byron Smith states that he was the second son of Byron Laflin Smith, who founded The Northern Trust Company in 1889.
He received an A.B. from Harvard College and an MFA from the University of Oregon.
In 2024, McCormack's chauffeurs were arrested for allegedly defrauding him of over $34 million over the course of seven years. McCormack is the heir to a midwest banking fortune, and claimed he did not often check charges made to his account.