 His term of office at Cranbrook ended acrimoniously after Justice Kenneth Street and others blamed Mackay for the school's slow recovery from the Great Depression, and the school council voted to remove him on 25 October 1939.Mackay was given twelve months' notice.When, in December 1939, Mackay's daughter Jean married Lieutenant W. H. Travers, the grandson of Major General William Holmes; the reception was held at Cranbrook.