Stephen Ernest Platt

Please join us this Saturday, November 29th at 10:00 AM CST for a memorial service at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Kansas City, which will be live-streamed and is available on this link: https://standrewkc.org/watch/

Stephen Ernest Platt, much loved for his sunny disposition and zest for life, was taken by a heart attack November 16, 2025. He had been raking leaves in his front yard and talking to a friend. He died in the arms of his beloved wife, Martha Lally Platt. He was 70 years old.

Steve had many interests and talents. His character was deeply shaped in part by his early days as an Eagle Scout in the Tribe of the Mic-O-Say. He had a love of sports, playing ice hockey at the Carriage Club with his brothers Tom and Buddy and golf with his father at Mission Hills Country Club. Steve developed a keen eye for photography and built his own photo dark room as a teenager. He graduated with honors from Shawnee Mission East High School. He later designed and built a Fairway, KS home for his then wife, Susan Bowers Fetterling, before her death. Baseball was his favorite sport. He relished watching the Kansas City Chiefs play football, and played pickleball.

Steve believed fun is where you find it, and he did. He was happiest outside and on the open road. Always up for adventure, he preferred driving to flying, enjoying a stick shift convertible with wind whipping his unusually thick, white hair, vibrant red in his youth. He explored Mexico and many National Parks historic sites with his young family, and later Martha. He was proud of his lifetime National Park Pass and National Park stamp book. Trips to the Eastern seashore, swimming in the ocean, charter boat fishing and card games were treasured times.

Fascinated with the magic of numbers and precision, Steve earned his BSBA in Business Administration Accounting, with strong emphasis in Finance and Economics, from the University of Missouri, St. Louis. He was a proud legacy brother of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity, Columbia, MO. He earned his CMA, Certified Management Accountant in Industry Cost Accounting (Institute of Management Accountants).

Steve married his childhood friend, Martha Lally Platt, at St. Andrew’s Church on October 22, 2022. He said he was marrying the love of his life, after proposing to her in the Crystal Bridges Museum under the famed Benjamin West painting, “Cupid and Psyche”. The couple nourished a love partnership with appreciation, shared service and a carpe diem commitment to each day. Tender when he returned home, Steve’s enthusiastic greeting was “Honey I’m Home!" Light-hearted, Steve could quickly grasp humor in challenging situations and he chose to live happily. He sought out shared experiences, easily made friends, and never wavered from commitments. His car’s amusing license plate was SPLATT (S.Platt), a nickname he picked up in school. Steve started his day reading The Wall Street Journal. He loved discussing daily news, economics and politics, and avidly played “Wordle”. Like his father, Beverly Helm Platt, Sr., and grandfather Ernest Platt, Steve was a committed life-long member of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, serving there as an acolyte in his youth. The Platt family legacy included affiliation with the Sons of the American Revolution. Steve was a second-generation member of the Vanguard Club. Like his father, Steve enjoyed season tickets to Kansas City’s Lyric Opera and could be heard singing tunes around the house. Elegant bowties were his personal style trademark, carried on from both his father and grandfather.

Steve was born into community service. His great-great-grandfather, James M. Greenwood, was the longest serving superintendent of the KCMO school system and founder of the Kansas City Public Library. Steve volunteered his professional talents as a board member or treasurer, to many organizations including: The KC Chapter of Management Accountants; IMA-Institute of Management Accountants; Native Sons & Daughters of Kansas City; The Broadway Council; Westport Historical Association; Westport Improvement Council; Heart of Westport Neighborhood Association; Urban Core; Friends of the Kansas City Library; and Westwood Hills Homes Association.

Ernest in name, and earnest by nature, Steve could be tenacious in fighting for justice and what he believed in. He spoke truth to power regularly as an advocate of all residents in and near the City of Westwood, KS when their green space and community park was in jeopardy of being destroyed by a developer.

A long-time Red Cross blood donor, Steve achieved the distinction of being a multi-gallon giver. For seven years he served as a Greater Kansas City Science Fair Judge. Professionally, he presented Case Studies in Ethics to the Missouri Assn. of Accounting Educators. He and Martha recently served as honorary chairs of the annual Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, which provides free professional theater to the metro area. He most recently worked at Magnum Systems Inc. Previously he was: Senior Cost Accountant for Xeno Tech, LLC-serving the pharmaceutical industry; Controller for Ken-a-Vison Manufacturing Inc. - microscopes; Sr. Accountant to BAYONE Urethane Systems, LLC (Bayer MaterialScience); Controller, EFC International - Automotive Components; Assistant Controller, HCI Chemtech Distribution, Inc.- commodity chemicals; Site Controller, Carlin Foods-Dairy Division; Office Manager of Accounting at Switzer Candy Company, and as an Adjunct Professor of Managerial Accounting .- St. Louis Community College.

Steve was predeceased by his father Beverly Helm Platt, stepmother, Alice Sebree Platt, who with her children created a loving blended family; his mother Virlea MacLaughlin, brother Beverly "Buddy" Helm Platt Jr., wife, Susan Bowers Fetterling, grandparents, Adele Every and Ernest Platt, Virginia Jackson and Thomas Greenwood MacLaughlin. He is survived by his devoted wife Martha Lally Platt, his brother Thomas MacLaughlin Platt, his daughters Stephanie Platt Zettl and Meredith Helm Platt Thiergart, along with cousins James MacLaughlin, Virginia MacLaughlin McCoskrie, and family members, Roy Crooks, Marion Crooks Ligon, Alice Crooks Lund, Donald Boyd Crooks, Sharon Murray Mueller, Laura C. Jahn Platt and members of the Bowers, Fetterling and Kessler families.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a charity of your choice, or The Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, 3732 Main Street, Kansas City, MO 64111.