Christopher Plummer

Chris passed away quietly, at his home in West Chester, PA, with his wife, Nancy Barnes, and his sister, Jeanette Laterra, by his side.  He was the second of 5 children of Charles and Irene (O’Keefe), born in Townshend, VT.  He grew up in West Islip, LI.  He excelled in both school and sports, captaining his HS and College soccer teams.  With his easy smile and gentle nature, he made friends everywhere.

While at Oneonta State University, a professor urged him to apply for an internship to Iran, working for British Petroleum, which he did for 2 summers.  This was the start of what was to become his life’s work, Metals and Mining.  Between finishing college at Hofstra and grad school at Temple, he worked for 5 years with the American Red Cross in procurement, traveling extensively, another hallmark of Chris’s career.

After grad school, Chris worked at Chase Manhattan Bank, as Managing Director of Metals and Mining.  He was Managing Director at CRU (Commodities Research Unit) in London, before starting his own consulting firm, Metal Strategies in 1998.  In his work life, Chris logged over a million air miles connecting with industry and government leaders, companies and partners that he worked with to this day and becoming a leading subject matter expert in the steel industry.  As one of his partners said, the world of steel has lost a great expert, a strong leader, a reliable business partner and a real friend.

Chris was a well thought out Christian.  He came to Calvary Chapel in 2016 and learned under the tutelage of Pastor Chris Swansen, something he shared with his wife, Nancy.  He was also an accomplished, self-taught pianist, an avid bike rider, voracious reader and when the warm weather came, could be found enjoying his pool.

To those of us that had the privilege of knowing Chris, he was the nicest person you would ever meet. While successful and accomplished, he was humble and understated.  He spoke frequently with high government officials, did work for the CIA, but also carried on conversations with someone working on the pool.  He met people where they are and always had a kind word to say to everyone.

Chris is survived by his wife, Nancy Barnes, whom he described as the love and the light of his life; his son, Andrew Plummer (Danielle Meyer), step-daughter, Lexi Hinkle (Michael) and step-son, Derek Barnes (Tess Kivlin).  Through the journey, Chris and Nancy were supported by his siblings, Eric, Carl (Kristen), Madeleine and Jeanette Laterra (Mario), also, Nancy’s family, Chris’s mother-in-law, Ruth Furco, Nancy’s siblings Kathy Kenney (Marty), Stephen Popkowski, Fran Lansley (Bob) and Chris Kearney (Paula Cerio).  He is pre-deceased by his parents, Charles and Irene, and his daughter, Allison Plummer.

Chris and Nancy are forever grateful for the many friends, family, neighbors and colleagues that made this demanding journey with them.  The calls, texts, show-ups and jokes, made that dark day just a little brighter.  A special nod to Luke and Simon, our Bestie/Covid friends that kept us bolstered and upbeat over the last two years, our recent vacation partners to the Outer Banks, Fawn Lansley Duff and engaging daughter, CC (Cecelia) and a special thanks to our Penn Med nurse, Sarah Mazzone.  The last year of her care gave us confidence to move forward.  We could not have done it without our team.