Deceased August 9, 2016
View alumni profile (log in required)
Read obituary
In Memory
William L. Plunkett, born in Los Angeles in 1929, died Aug. 9, 2016, after a brief illness. His extended family gathered for a quiet ceremony, consistent with Bill’s final wishes. Bill was one of only three classmates who came from the West Coast. He was a graduate of the Los Angeles prep school Harvard Military Academy. His easygoing personality persevered. At Amherst Bill was a social fellow who made friends easily.
From start to finish, Bill was nuts about cars. As a youth, he dreamed of a career as a designer of them. Upon his return to California as an Amherst graduate, however, he became so thrilled and successful in his initial job selling used cars that he lost interest in further technical or business training. After a brief stint selling used Studebakers, he was elevated to general manager of the Studebaker Packard agency in Fullerton. In 1963 he bought a Volkswagen agency in Sunland, which was his principal livelihood for two decades. For two of those years, he was chairman of the VW National Dealer Council, a position entailing travel throughout U.S. and in Europe. He seems to have had a flair for bold business moves. In 1981 he dismantled his VW agency building in Sunland, retaining only the auto leasing part of the business, and built a large apartment complex on the site. Bill had a passion also for antique autos, buying, trading, restoring and showing them. His prize was a 1936 Cord convertible.
In February 1962, a friend introduced Bill to Harriet Haake. They were married on Sept. 28 of the same year. Bill and Harriet produced two children: Patricia Louise Plunkett, born in 1964, and William Haake Plunkett, born two years later. Bill retired in 1992. The Plunketts subsequently explored our country and Canada, traveling back and forth across the continent by train.
Bill exhibited a conservative and nostalgic side in the pieces he wrote for our 35th and 50th reunions. He expressed disappointment at Amherst’s decisions to end its role as an all-male institution and to abolish fraternities. On the other side, “the New Curriculum forced us to be exposed to ideas and disciplines we might have missed. …”
Bill Neill ’51