Norton Simon | |
|---|---|
 Simon in 1971 | |
| Born | February 5, 1907 Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| Died | June 2, 1993 (aged 86) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley |
| Occupation(s) | Industrialist, philanthropist |
| Known for | Founder of the Norton Simon Museum Founder of Hunt's Foods, owner of Hunt's Ketchup, Tanqueray Gin |
| Political party | Republican |
| Board member of | Hunt's Foods |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
Norton Winfred Simon (February 5, 1907 – June 2, 1993) was an American industrialist and philanthropist. He was at one time one of the wealthiest men in America.[1] At the time of his death, he had amassed a net worth of nearly US$10 billion.
Simon was born to a Jewish family in Portland, Oregon. His father operated a wholesale goods store there. When Simon was sixteen years old, he relocated with his family from Portland to San Francisco following his mother's death. After dropping out of the University of California, Berkeley, Simon founded a sheet metal company before investing in an insolvent orange juice bottling plant in Fullerton, California. The company was renamed Val Vita Food Products Company, and, under Simon's supervision, expanded its product line to include numerous other fruit and vegetable products. The company was eventually sold by Simon to Hunt's Foods, after which Simon retired in 1969.
He spent his later years serving in philanthropic and non-profit roles, acting as a regent on the boards of the University of California and Reed College, as well as the Los Angeles Music Center, the California School of Professional Psychology, and the Institute for Advanced Study. Simon amassed a significant art collection that is housed in the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California. After his death in 1993 Simon's second wife, actress Jennifer Jones, remained an emeritus director of the Museum until her death in 2009.
- ^ Mathison, Dirk (November 1998). "Masterpiece Theater". Los Angeles. p. 110. ISSN 1522-9149.