Sim Van der Ryn

Dear Mrs. Micah G. Van der Ryn, This is Simon I wrote below earlier. I write you from the EU....But in1995 for many weeks your husband gave me that I was welcome to stick around, even that we never had met up to that point. I came from Germany.....and it is that I moved into the house of Stan who happened to be years earlier the body guard for Keith Richards and the chief of security of the Rolling Stones. Stan had many stories from his friend Bill Graham and his property that now your...

I miss my dear

He was most encouraging , saying about my just started demonstration eco tiny home project 23 years ago, , damn the permits , get out of your own way and just do it. Put it on wheels if you have to. His drive and vision rubbed off on me like for so many others he pushed forward to create new things. He was a rare teacher . I have kept on designing and building ever since.

.I remember as a student of his in the 70's, Sim saying in class that the federal government should take a portion of the subsidies given to the oil companies and buy everyone PV panels to install on their garage roof to help solve the oil crisis and restart the economy. Brilliant ! Way ahead of his time.

I don't know where to start. I am so much saddened by the loss of a friend who Sim was for me in 1995. He opened his doors and let me be part of his life and work. This ie a very big and deep memory I will cherish my whole life. My heart goes out to his family and to all his friends. Simon ( Sim)

Sim worked on the re-design and remodeling of our synagogue in Tiburon. He was the inspiration for using existing physical elements discovered during demolition that resulted in a unique and spiritual space to gather and pray. He was a force for good in an otherwise chaotic world. He was fortunate that his family left the Netherlands in 1939 or, in all likelihood, he and his family would have died at the hands of the Nazi's, along with 140,000 Dutch Jews. Alan Zimmerman