Richard L. Simon

Richard Leo Simon (March 6, 1899 – July 29, 1960) was an American book publisher. He was the co-founder, with Max Schuster, of the publishing house Simon & Schuster and father of singer-songwriter Carly Simon.^[2]

Early life and family

Richard Leo Simon was born on March 6, 1899, in New York City to a wealthy Jewish family.^[3] His father, Leo Simon, was a prosperous feather- and silk manufacturer and milliner of German Jewish descent, while his mother, Anna (née Meier), was a German Jewish immigrant.^[4][5] Simon’s parents were active in the Ethical Culture movement, which emphasized universal morality.^[4] They sent Richard to the Ethical Cultural School and then to Columbia University.^[4]

After serving in World War I, Simon returned to the United States and, leveraging his talent for music, worked as a piano salesman before eventually launching his career in book publishing.^[4]

Richard Simon was the eldest of five siblings – Henry, Alfred, George, and Elizabeth – all of whom were named after British monarchs.^[4] His brother George T. Simon was a jazz drummer who played with Glenn Miller and later became a prominent critic, magazine editor, and author on jazz, particularly big bands and the swing era. Another brother, Henry W. Simon, was an English professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, a classical music critic for the newspaper PM, and an author of numerous books on opera. He eventually became an editor and vice president at Simon & Schuster. Alfred, another sibling, was a rehearsal pianist for Ira and George Gershwin; the programmer for light opera and show music at WQXR; and a noted author on musical theatre. His sister, Elizabeth, married physician Arthur Seligmann.^[5]

Career

Simon began his career as a sugar importer and then became a piano salesman. It was while selling pianos that he met Max Schuster. Simon then became a salesman for the publisher Boni & Liveright where he quickly rose to sales manager.^[5]

Simon pooled $8,000 together with Max Schuster to publish the first book of crossword puzzles in 1924.^[6]

Simon was a pioneer in emphasizing marketing, merchandising, promotion and advertising for booksellers. Simon wrote a weekly column and advertorial in Publishers Weekly called the Inner Sanctum. His partner Max Schuster wrote a column of the same name for The New York Times. The title was also the name of the editorial room between their offices.^[5]

Michael Korda said that when he arrived to work as an editor at Simon & Schuster in 1958, he found a bronze plaque on his desk designed by Richard Simon that said, "Give the reader a break." This was a reminder to every editor that their job was to make things as easy and clear for the reader as possible.^[6]

Simon retired in 1957 after having two heart attacks.^[5]

Personal life

On August 3, 1934,^[1] Simon married Andrea Heinemann, who worked as a switchboard operator at Simon & Schuster. Raised in Philadelphia, Heinemann was the daughter of a Cuban-born, Roman Catholic mother, Asunción María del Río, and a German-speaking Swiss father who had abandoned the family.^[4] She asserted that she was of partial "Moorish" origin based on her mother's exotic looks, but she was of Afro-Cuban descent.^[4]

They had four children:

• Joanna Simon (1936–2022), former opera mezzo-soprano and New York real estate agent
• Lucy Simon (1940–2022), Broadway score writer
• Carly Simon (born 1943), singer-songwriter
• Peter Simon (1947–2018), nationally renowned photographer

Death

Simon died in 1960 after suffering a heart attack. Simon was a resident of Fieldston, an area within Riverdale in the Bronx.^[7]

References

External links

• Timeline 1898–1899
• Finding aid to Richard L. Simon papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.