Matthias Plum, Jr., age 85, passed away the evening of the summer solstice Friday, June 21st surrounded by his loving family. He is survived and missed by his wife Margaret White Plum of Boston and Chatham, daughter Arabella Plum and her husband Jeff of Ipswich, stepdaughter Julia Morris of Tampa, son Matthias Plum and his wife Coco and their children Matty and Chase Plum of Essex, brother Roy Plum of Hobe Sound, sister Patricia Wylde of Wareham, and brother Sam Plum of Philadelphia.
The oldest son of Matthias and Bertha Andrews Rainey Plum, Matthias Plum, Jr. was born in New York City on August 29, 1933. He attended the Town School and Buckley School in New York and the Chatham (MA) elementary school. He was a 1952 graduate of the St. Paul's School (Concord, NH) and a Distinguished Military Graduate of Princeton University with a degree in Philosophy (1956). After two years’ service with the Ordnance Corps in Braconne, France, he was honorably discharged as a First Lieutenant, US Army Reserve.
He pursued a career in commercial banking at the Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Company, Bankers Trust Co. (NY) and the First National Bank of Boston. In 1962, he left to attend the Harvard Business School and graduated with an MBA with distinction.
The balance of his career was focused on investment management with a particular interest in the creation and financing of technology-based growth companies. He joined Massachusetts
Investors Trust (now MFS) in 1964 where he became an industry specialist, portfolio manager, director of research and partner. When MFS was sold to Sun Life Assurance (Canada) in 1982, he left to pursue a career in venture capital, first with Investor Associates and then as president of Global Investments. In 1986 he was a co-founder and general partner of Copley Venture Partners, a venture capital firm specializing in early stage investments in life science and consumer and business service companies.
An avid sportsman, he was a member of the St. Paul's School varsity hockey team for two years, captain of his club team and recipient of the Delphian medal. A member of the Princeton freshman hockey team, he was winner of the Freshman Hockey Award and the Goalies' Award. He played defense on the varsity for 3 years. He was a member of the Barnstable (MA), St. Nicholas and Cambridge Comets hockey clubs.
He was chairman of the Boston Ballet, the Advisory Board for the Economics Department at Boston University, the Office for the Arts at Harvard, the Boston Society of Electronics Analysts and the Financial Analysts Federation. He served as a director of I-STAT, a pioneer in biosensors-based diagnostic systems and Mulberry Child Care Centers.
He was a member of the corporation of Massachusetts General Hospital and the Museum of Science (Boston) and served on the executive committee of the Board of Associates of the Whitehead Institute. He also served as a trustee of The Garrison Forest School (MD) and the Chatham Beach & Tennis Club, of which he was also president.
He was a Junior Achievement advisor, a coach in the Cape Cod Little League Hockey program and the author of a monograph on hockey development for Little League coaches and a co-author of Condominiums: Housing for Tomorrow.
With a lifelong interest in sailing, he completed a Trans-Atlantic crossing and was a participant in several long distance races, including the Newport-Bermuda Race. A member of the Cruising Club of America and the New York Yacht Club, he was also a founder of the Better Boating Association, producer of Chart Kits.
He was a member of the Racquet Club (NY), the Somerset Club, The Country Club (Boston), Eastward Ho! Country Club, and the Chatham Beach and Tennis Club.
Funeral services will be held at 11 o'clock on the morning of July 11 at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church at 625 Main Street, Chatham, Massachusetts. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions be made to the Cape and Islands United Way at 749 Main St, Hyannis, MA 02601 or the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Office for Advancement, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142. For online condolences, please visit www.nickersonfunerals.com.
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