David William Plevin (HG 1964) has died at age 79

Written by John Hitchman (SH 1963)

David William Plevin
9th May 1946 – 20th March 2026

Others will be more familiar with David’s time at Highgate than I. We were in different streams at A level. In later life David would often recall his daily bike commute from Hendon including the stiff gradient of North Hill.

We became friends in 1964 when we came across each other on our first day at Henderson Hall at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. David studied Zoology. He was delighted to be on Tyneside as the Plevin family all hailed from the North East.

Following our graduation we spent a hilarious two months trekking through the Balkans and on to Istanbul in a Mini-van. To his credit, on our return he managed to sell the van for more than we paid for it in spite of numerous repairs mainly involving bits of Yugoslavian army tyres.

Keeping the study of Zoology as a lifetime hobby David obtained employment as a Market Analyst. This he followed by undertaking an MBA at Cranfield College. From there he joined a large corporate credit rating company. Eventually David founded his own successful company specialising in corporate credit rating. When it came to the time for retirement the company was sold to a European company wishing to expand into the UK market.

David was my best man in 1970. It was a few years before he found the perfect partner in Helen.

In retirement David kept up with his many friends and his family in Belgium. His sharp mind was used to good effect with cryptic crosswords and pursuing his interests in zoology and science and a daily walk in Richmond Royal Park.