Hilary McCormack

Hilary Strang McCormack (31 December 1934 – 12 December 2022) was a New Zealand advocate for the Deaf community. She was president and patron of the New Zealand Association of the Deaf, and a strong supporter of New Zealand Sign Language. In 1998 McCormack was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the deaf.

Early life and education

McCormack had meningitis when she was seven, and became totally deaf "almost overnight" as a result. McCormack attended the Sumner School for the Deaf (later Van Asch College), for a year, where she was a weekly boarder and learned to lip read.

McCormack served on the Board of Trustees for Van Asch College and from 1992 to 1993 served as Chair.

In 2020 McCormack was awarded the New Zealand Sign Language Awards' Supreme Long-standing Service Award.

McCormack was awarded life membership of the Canterbury Deaf Society.