Richard Carl Simon

1925 - 2016

Richard Carl Simon

AGE: 90 • Morristown

Richard (Dick) Carl Simon, born in Brooklyn on August 21, 1925, raised in Delmar, NY, son of Maximilian R. Simon and Clara Deck, died peacefully on May 29, 2016 in Vermont, after a long illness. He started college at MIT until 1943 when he was drafted into the US Army, 397th Infantry, 100th Division. He fought in the Vosges Mountains in France, served on the front lines, earned a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, and was imprisoned in one of Germany's toughest POW camps. He earned a BA from Amherst College in 1949, where he was a member of Delta Upsilon and a varsity football star, and an MBA from Harvard in 1951. He worked as an executive in international marketing for GE, AMF, and Litton Industries.

In 1948 he married May Blatz and settled in Mountain Lakes, NJ; and in 1984 he married Janet Murphy and moved to Morristown, NJ, where he lived for 29 years. Simon led and was involved in many historical and preservation organizations, including: The Washington Association of New Jersey; Canal Society of New Jersey; Advocates of New Jersey History; Morris County Heritage Commission; The Friends of Florham; New Jersey Representative of the Washington/Rochambeau Revolutionary Route; Macculloch Hall Museum; Crossroads of the American Revolution Association; Shakespeare Club of Morristown; Morristown Tourism Bureau; and the Morristown Green. He authored The Green: A History of the Morristown Green and Revolutionary War Sites in Morris County.

Simon was a civic leader, veteran, artist, curator, historian, lecturer, author, outdoorsman, bicyclist, collector, amateur actor, Francophile, and world traveler. A skilled artist, Simon sketched and painted watercolors of architecture and landscapes. He was a Renaissance man and part of the Greatest Generation. His indomitable spirit and strong heart have inspired many, and he will be greatly missed by his family and many friends.

Simon was predeceased by his son, Richard C. Simon Jr., and is survived by his first wife, May Blatz Fagan of Hanover, NH, children Elizabeth Simon of Germantown, MD, Susanne Simon of Lyme, NH, Priscilla Connolly of Newbury, VT, Robert E. Simon II of Branchburg, NJ; second wife, Janet Murphy Robertson of E. Dennis, MA, children Jeffrey M. Simon, and Katherine Deconinck of Paris, France.

Graveside services will be at Taft Cemetery, Dummerston, VT at 2:00 PM on Thursday, June 16, 2016. Memorial donations can be sent to: Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust. To view online guestbook, go to www.halefuner alhomes.com.