Bob Lawless Elected Chairman, President & CEO

SPARKS, MD, MARCH 17 -- At the annual shareholders' meeting of McCormick & Company, Incorporated, held today at Marriott's Hunt Valley Inn, the following directors were re-elected:

James T. Brady, Robert J. Lawless, Francis A. Contino, Carroll D. Nordhoff, Robert G. Davey, Robert W Schroeder, Edward S. Dunn, Jr., William E. Stevens, Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, Karen D. Weatherholtz Shareholders approved the 1999 Directors' Non-Qualified Stock Option Plan, the 1999 Employees Stock Purchase Plan, and ratified the appointment of Ernst & Young as independent auditors.

Following the annual meeting of shareholders, McCormick directors met and elected the following corporate officers:

Robert J. Lawless, Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer
Susan L. Abbott, Vice President-Regulatory & Environmental Affairs
J. Allan Anderson, Vice President & Controller
Allen M. Barrett, Jr., Vice President-Corporate Communications
Francis A. Contino, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Robert G. Davey, President-Global Industrial Group
Dr. Hamed Faridi, Vice President-Research & Development
Randall B. Jensen, Vice President-Operations Resources
Christopher J. Kurtzman, Vice President & Treasurer
Roger T. Lawrence, Vice President-Quality Assurance
C. Robert Miller, II, Vice President-Management Information Systems
Carroll D. Nordhoff, Executive Vice President
Robert W. Skelton, Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary
Gordon M. Stetz, Jr., Vice President-Acquisitions & Financial Planning
Karen D. Weatherholtz, Vice President-Human Relations
Joyce L. Brooks, Assistant Treasurer-Financial Services
W. Geoffrey Carpenter, Associate General Counsel & Assistant Secretary
David P. Smith, Assistant Treasurer
J. Gregory Yawman, Associate Counsel & Assistant Secretary

Robert J. Lawless, 52, President & CEO since January 1, 1997, was elected Chairman, President & CEO. As Chairman, he succeeds Charles P. McCormick, Jr., who had been serving in that capacity since 1994. Mr. McCormick, together with James S. Cook and George V. McGowan, also retired from the Corporate Board of Directors. He had been serving on the Board since his election in 1955. Mr. Lawless, a member of the Corporate Board of Directors since 1994, became President & Chief Operating Officer January 1, 1996. He previously was named Executive Vice President & COO in 1995. In 1991, Mr. Lawless was named Vice President & Deputy Managing Director for the International Group and in 1993 became Group Vice President-Europe. He was appointed Senior Vice President-The Americas Zone and head of the McCormick/Schilling Division in 1994. He joined Club House Foods Inc., McCormick's Canadian subsidiary, as Distribution Manager in 1977. He served Club House, subsequently renamed McCormick Canada, Inc., as Production Manager, Director of Materials Management, Director of Sales & Distribution, Vice President of Operations, and for two years as President & COO. In 1991, he was named Chairman of the Board, a position which he held until 1997.

He is currently serving as a member of the Board of Directors of the United Way of Central Maryland, the Greater Baltimore Committee, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Grocery Manufacturers of America, Inc., and the Junior Achievement of Central Maryland Executive Council. In addition, he serves on the Board of Carpenter Technology Corporation of Reading, Pennsylvania.