Dr. Mikhail Plam

1936 - 2022

Dr. Mikhail (Misha) Plam passed away on February 21, 2022 at his home in Boulder, Colorado at the age of 85 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Misha is survived by his wife, the noted artist Olga Plam of Boulder, and by his son Yegor Plam, daughter-in-law Annie, and grandchildren David and Aaron, of Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Born on December 1, 1936, Misha led an astonishingly eventful life, growing up in Moscow in the Soviet Union during the World War II era, attaining his degree (Ph.D. equivalent) in geography at Moscow State University in 1960, and carrying out scientific research in glaciology while directing the construction of the University's high-altitude glaciology and climate change research station in the Russian Caucasus at Mount Elbrus, the tallest mountain in Europe. Misha's mother, Josephina Kotlyarova, was a business proprietor in Leningrad in 1920s post-Revolutionary USSR during the so-called NEP (New Economic Policy under Lenin). She was warned by the Party Commissar attached to her business that the NEP would soon end. She closed the company a month before the end of the NEP, which saved her from being shot, the fate of many other "NEPmen." His father, Yakov Plam, was the director of a large salvage shipyard, also in Leningrad. Misha's mother went to work at that shipyard, where soon after, she married Misha's father. Misha's parents were both from prosperous Jewish merchant families in Nikolayev (today in southern Ukraine). Misha and Olga met and married during the time that Misha was building the mountain research station at Mount Elbrus. Finding Misha's advancement blocked on account of being Jewish and not a member of the Communist Party, Misha and Olga decided to emigrate from the USSR only to have their "exit visas" refused, making them so-called "refuseniks." This tenuous status made them ineligible to work and resulted in several years of family trauma and poverty, and coincided with the first of Misha's near-fatal bouts with cancer. Finally, the Plams received a phone call one evening directing them to be at the airport the next morning to leave the USSR. Together with their young son, Yegor, and what possessions they could carry, they began a multi-month journey through Vienna and Rome supported by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. They eventually were given U.S. entry documents to travel to Boulder, invited by Professor Jack Ives, former director of the University of Colorado's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR). During the time that the Plams were unable to leave the USSR, a group of prominent North American and European geographers had been lobbying the Soviet government for the issuance of exit visas to the Plam family, while several Jewish organizations, including Action for Soviet Jewry, likewise publicly and privately advocated on behalf of the Plams and later for Olga's father, the renowned mathematician and dissident, Naum Meiman. Boulder attorneys and activists, Bill and Sara-Jane Cohen and Roxanne Bailin, were instrumental in this effort. Upon arrival in Boulder in 1977, Misha worked as on-site Director of the Mountain Research Station on Niwot Ridge, which is part of INSTAAR. He also served as Adjunct Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at CU-Boulder. Misha went on to become deeply involved in water quality technology, and first discovered his fascination with entrepreneurship when he began working at Pure Cycle in Boulder, initially as an engineer and then in a business capacity. After Pure Cycle, Misha participated in several Boulder-based ventures while learning the techniques of successful entrepreneurship and developing an incredible range of friends and advisors who helped Misha hone his skills. Misha's greatest commercial success came when he co-founded Sievers Instruments in 1984 with CU Professor Bob Sievers. As President and CEO, Misha led the company's development of several industry-leading scientific instruments, including a highly sensitive water quality measurement system that was selected to be a key part of the life support system on the International Space Station, as well as on the Space Shuttle Atlantis and the Russian Mir space station. The company's success led to its acquisition by Ionics, Inc. in 1996, and later, in 2005, by GE Analytical Instruments. In recognition of his achievements over the years, Misha was honored as the Rocky Mountain Region Ernst & Young LLP Entrepreneur of the Year for 1997 in the Manufacturing Category. He was also named Entrepreneur of Distinction in 1997 by Esprit Entrepreneur. In 2000, Misha was honored as a foreign member Academician of the Russian Academy of Engineering in recognition of his support of the Russian-American space program. After many years of starting up technology-based ventures, in many cases based on scientific research at the University of Colorado-Boulder, Misha was named the first Serial University Start-Up Entrepreneur by the Technology Transfer Office at the University. Misha's technology ventures participated extensively in the SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) programs of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Misha was a fierce advocate on behalf of these programs, and participated with the SBA in extending the program model to Russia and China. In 2011, the SBA honored Misha's work on behalf of the SBA by naming him the recipient of the Tibbetts Award for his distinguished record of entrepreneurship and innovation and for his contributions in promoting the SBIR Program in the U.S. and abroad. Misha's most recent venture, AmideBio, in Boulder, Colorado, is carrying out preclinical research in diabetes-related metabolic diseases. Misha co-founded the company with Michael Stowell, Professor at CU-Boulder in Molecular Biology and Mechanical Engineering. Since stepping down as Chairman, President, and CEO, Misha served as Emeritus Chairman of the company. Services will be privately held at the request of the family. Arrangements are through Crist Mortuary and Mountain View Memorial Park in Boulder.