Chris Pentz, CMP, president, Pentz Group Communications, Levittown, Pa., died on May 21 after a battle with cancer. Having worked as a meeting planner for pharmaceutical companies, including SmithKline, Centocor, and Bristol-Myers Squibb, she created her own meeting planning company in the 1990s. She was a speaker at Medical Meetings' first Pharmaceutical Meeting Planners Forum in 2005 and was scheduled to present at the March 2006 conference before she became too ill to take part.

“Chris was an avid and active member of Meeting Professionals International, contributing her time and global meeting planning experience to a variety of committees and programs,” says friend Carol Krugman Maller, CMP, CMM, director of client services with The George P. Johnson Co., Auburn Hills, Mich. “She was a pillar of the Philadelphia MPI chapter and a frequent and sought-after speaker on international meeting planning. She was a consummate professional, one of the most even-tempered, gracious, and generous people I have ever known, and a great friend.”

Donations to offset medical bills can be sent, care of the Philadelphia MPI chapter, to The Chris Pentz Fund/PAMPI, P.O. Box 579, Moorestown, NJ 08057; or directly to the family: Jackie, Brian, and Doris Pentz, 57 Macintosh Rd., Levittown, Pa. 19056.