Obituary - William E. Simon, R.I.P - Brief Article - Obituary

It was over a year ago that the word went around that Bill Simon was ill, but months went by and he was seen apparently exuding his old energies, which were prodigious. Sometime after he left Washington, where he had served as Secretary of the Treasury for Presidents Nixon and Ford, he called and asked if I would sponsor him for membership in the New York Yacht Club. I'd have sponsored him for membership in Olympus, if he had requested it, and I had any leverage in the situation. Who would you suggest for a seconder? I asked. Well, what about Bus Mosbacher? I dropped the great helmsman a note. He called back: He would be proud and delighted to second the nomination of Bill Simon, but he was disqualified from doing so, because he was serving as the Commodore of the New York Yacht Club. I called Simon and asked who else he might suggest. Why not Malcolm Forbes? I called-nothing would please him more. Forthwith he sent a letter of copious praise for Simon, but it was addressed to the New York Racquet Club.

It all got sorted out, and one afternoon we cruised about town and met the admissions-committee members. One of them asked what was his interest in boating. He said he had sailed a great deal as a boy. Meanwhile, pending the deliberations of the yacht club, he had commissioned a 146-foot sloop. "If I could have found an American builder who would come in within a quarter-million dollars of the Italian builder's price, I'd have said, 'Okay, go ahead'"; but he didn't succeed, and the Freedom was built in Viareggio. I recommended to him the New Zealander who had served as captain on three of my transoceanic sails. Allan Jouning was captain of the Freedom. Bill Simon sailed it exhaustively, enjoying especially diving, which he would do off Australia, after which he would settle down to examine a half-mile of faxes, reporting on his myriad interests.

They were, foremost, his concern for God and country. He deliberated service for President-elect Ronald Reagan, but Reagan wanted to do his own thing, and Bill Simon at that point wasn't disposed to play second fiddle on the economic scene, not even to the President. He resumed his activities as an investor, and actively superintended the philanthropic work of the Olin Foundation, which has served for 20 years as a lifeline to high-minded conservative activity, in the academy and on the public scene (Firing Line received critical help from Olin). His interest in sports brought him to the rescue of the U.S. Olympic Committee, and he supervised the triumphant Los Angeles Olympics, rescuing the enterprise from the brooding bankruptcy it had been coping with.

Mostly, his private concerns were for his God, and His commandments. I traveled with him once to Lourdes, a daughter and two sons aboard, and there can't have been four closer friends anywhere than Bill and his children. His philanthropy was staggering, but it was never formalistic. He believed in helping afflicted people not merely by dispatching material help, but by cleaning their bedpans. He loved laughter and good company and his country and his faith, and loved even that converted tug with the elevator inside which he built to replace the sailboat. "It has a range of fourteen thousand miles," he told me proudly. I suppressed the impulse to ask why he would need to go fourteen thousand miles before putting in somewhere for fuel, but that kind of thing expressed the reach of his imagination, his determination to excel, and to reach out as far as he could, which he has now done.

The editors of National Review join in expressing our sympathy to family and country.

-WFB

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