Born in Towner, North Dakota in 1888, McClintock attended the University of Minnesota, and began his career in banking in his family's firm of W. D. McClintock and Sons. He served in France during World War I, and achieved the rank of captain at the time of his discharge in 1919. From 1921-1928 he served as a national bank receiver for the U.S. government in Montana, and in 1928 he and his wife moved to Denver where he was named president of the Denver Joint Stock Company. By 1937 he was named vice president of the Denver National Bank. He died in Denver in 1950.