Maxwell Plummer, son, brother, grandson, uncle, board game enthusiast, and PhD candidate in mathematics died at the age of 26 during the week of September 7th. Maxwell grew up in South Jordan, Utah. After graduating from the University of Utah, he moved to Houston to pursue a PhD in math at Rice University. He published his first article last year and was working on more. He presented at several conferences and was invited to share his findings with multiple universities. His dream was to become a tenure-track professor.

Maxwell was the third of Charles and Erica Plummer’s four children. All smiles, he was immediately loved by his older siblings and eventually his little sister as well. He spent his childhood with a pencil and paper at the kitchen island drawing maps and solving math problems for fun. He left his papers in the family "junk drawer," which just became storage for his imaginary worlds.

In his own words, he was “a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in mathematics at Rice University, advised by Chris Leininger.” Maxwell said, “My interests are broadly in geometric topology and geometric group theory. More specifically, I like to think about free-by-cyclic groups, Out(F_n), 3-manifolds, and pseudo-Anosov homeomorphisms.” His family was in awe. They loved his intelligence and reasoning combined with his thoughtfulness, playfulness, creativity, and dry wit.

Maxwell was the unexpected center of his social group. When he got his first phone at age twelve, he realized he could invite people over with a text. He turned the house into a gathering place for the neighborhood boys. They became life-long friends over pizza, Dungeons and Dragons, board games, and camping trips. Since graduating high school, these friends have driven and flown across the country to visit one another at college dorms, family homes, small apartments, and annual visits to a Montana cabin.

In high school, Maxwell worked at Mathnasium as a tutor where he learned patience and compassion. Sometimes he tutored a student five years older than himself, and sometimes he tutored a five-year-old. He loved his students and developed a deep respect for the struggle to learn something hard. Mathnasium also trained him to greet every person who walked into the room. Maxwell took this habit into his own life and said hello to every person who came within his space.

Maxwell loved children and always found a way into their good graces. He once ate off the floor to clinch the love of a toddler. He particularly loved his new niece, and two years ago he flew from grad school to Ohio to hang out with his sister, brother-in-law, and their baby. This past July, he spent much of ten days playing peek-a-boo, dollhouse, and interesting himself with anything that caught his niece’s attention. He made her laugh with goofy expressions and exaggerated reactions to her two-year-old shenanigans.

He was thrilled with his admission to Rice University where he continued to excel in both math and board games. He made friends in his program as well as with grad students, post docs, and professors around the world, attending conferences and workshops from Montreal to Seoul. He loved his time at a Berkeley conference the best, where his math friends stayed within a block of each other so they could spend their days researching and their nights playing Magic the Gathering, talking about books, and wandering the bay area. It made him feel like a kid in the neighborhood again.

Maxwell is survived by his parents, Charles and Erica; three siblings, Anne, Harrison, and Mira; brother-in-law, Spencer; niece, Isla; and two grandparents, Val and Sharron. He is loved and missed by so many more.

Maxwell fought a hard battle with mental health. His family will never stop being proud of him.

A memorial service will be held in Maxwell’s honor at the LDS Church Grandville Building, 11677 South Grandville Avenue, South Jordan, UT 84009 on Saturday, September 19th at 11:00 AM. An after party will follow the service.

(Livestream link) - Funeral broadcast https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85820545331?pwd=pIrDzcziWEARr5rePpZSrbfEXxHqya.1

Thank you for your willingness to contribute to the funeral costs.