William E. Simon | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 1977 | |
| 63rdUnited States Secretary of the Treasury | |
| In office May 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977 | |
| President | Richard Nixon Gerald Ford |
| Preceded by | George Shultz |
| Succeeded by | W. Michael Blumenthal |
| Director of the Federal Energy Office | |
| In office December 4, 1973 – May 9, 1974 | |
| President | Richard Nixon |
| Preceded by | John Love(Energy Policy Office) |
| Succeeded by | John C. Sawhill |
| Deputy Treasury Secretary | |
| In office January 22, 1973 – May 9, 1974 | |
| President | Richard Nixon |
| President of theUnited States Olympic Committee | |
| In office 1981–1985 | |
| Preceded by | Robert Kane |
| Succeeded by | Jack Kelly Jr. |
| Personal details | |
| Born | William Edward Simon (1927-11-27)November 27, 1927 Paterson, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | June 3, 2000(2000-06-03) (aged 72) |
| Resting place | Laurel Grove Memorial Park |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 7, includingBill |
| Education | Lafayette College(BA) |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch/service | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1946–1948 |
William Edward Simon (November 27, 1927 – June 3, 2000) was an American businessman and philanthropist who served as the 63rdUnited States Secretary of the Treasury. He became the Secretary of the Treasury on May 9, 1974, during theNixon administration. After Nixon resigned, Simon was reappointed by PresidentGerald Ford and served until 1977 when PresidentJimmy Carter took office. Outside of government, he was a successful businessman and philanthropist. TheWilliam E. Simon Foundation carries on this legacy. He styled himself as a strong advocate oflaissez-faire capitalism. He wrote, "There is only one social system that reflects thesovereignty of the individual: the free-market, or capitalist, system".[1]
Simon was born inPaterson, New Jersey, on November 27, 1927, the son of Eleanor (née Kearns) and Charles Simon Jr., an insurance executive.[2] He attendedBlair Academy and graduated fromNewark Academy, where he focused more on sports than scholastic pursuits.[3]
After service in theinfantry of theUnited States Army, he received hisB.A. in 1952 fromLafayette College inEaston, Pennsylvania,[4] where he was a member ofDelta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Rho Chapter). In his later life, Simon was a member of the board of trustees from 1972 to 1973.[5]
Simon began his career withUnion Securities in 1952. He later served as vice president of Weeden & Co. before being named senior partner in charge of the government and municipal bonds atSalomon Brothers, where he was a member of the firm's seven-man executive committee.
At the time of his nomination as Treasury Secretary, Simon was serving asDeputy Secretary of the Treasury, a post he held since January 22, 1973. As Deputy Secretary, Simon supervised theNixon administration's program to restructure and improve U.S. financial institutions. Beginning December 4, 1973, he served as the first administrator of the Federal Energy Office, and simultaneously launched and administered theFederal Energy Administration at the height of the oil embargo. As such he became known as the high-profile "Energy Czar",[6] and represented a revitalization of the"czar" term in U.S. politics. He chaired the President's Oil Policy Committee and was instrumental in revising themandatory oil import program in April 1973. Simon was a member of the President's Energy Resources Council and continued to have major responsibility for coordinating both domestic and international energy policy.
In August 1974, only three months after Simon becameU.S. Secretary of the Treasury,President Nixon resigned. PresidentGerald Ford, Nixon's successor, asked Simon to continue serving as Treasury Secretary, and Ford later appointed him chairman of the Economic Policy Board and chief spokesman for theFord administration on economic issues.
On April 8, 1975, President Ford also named him chairman of the newly created East-West Foreign Trade Board, established under the authority of theTrade Act of 1974.
In 1977, Simon received the Alexander Hamilton Award, theTreasury Department's highest honor. In 1976, while serving as Secretary of the Treasury, PresidentAnwar Sadat ofEgypt presented Simon with the Collar of the Republic/Order of the Nile. Simon's term as Secretary of the Treasury ended on January 20, 1977.
As Treasury Secretary, Simon claimed to support free markets and to spurn government policies that either subsidized or penalized businesses. In Simon's own words:
Throughout the last century the attachment of businessmen to free enterprise has weakened dramatically as they discovered they could demand – and receive – short-range advantages from the state ... I watched with incredulity as businessmen ran to the government in every crisis, whining for handouts or protection from the very competition that has made this system so productive.[7]
Simon attempted to purchase controlling interest in theBaltimore Orioles fromJerold Hoffberger for $12 million, but it aroused fears that he was going to move the franchise toWashington, D.C. Negotiations which began in the summer of 1978 ended when he withdrew his offer on February 5, 1979. He bitterly complained, "Mr. Hoffberger wants to play both ends against the middle. Well, he can forget this end. I think at this point and at this time the game is over. He has damaged the merchandise and acted in bad faith. I think I've been played dirty pool everywhere to Sunday."[8] The Orioles were acquired at the same price six months later on August 2 byEdward Bennett Williams who had represented Simon in those negotiations.[9]
Simon was a pioneer of theleveraged buyout (LBO) in the 1980s. Following government service, Simon was a Vice Chairman at Blyth Eastman Dillon for three years, He and his partner, then co-founded withRay Chambers, a tax accountant,Wesray Capital Corporation (Simon contributing the "Wes" and Chambers contributing the "ray" based on his initials), an LBO firm that bought and sold, among others, the Gibson Greeting Card Company, Anchor Glass, and the Simmons Mattress Company, typically investing tiny fractions of their own money and including significant debt to complete the purchase from prior shareholders, and then selling the companies whole or piecemeal after making changes that "often included job cutbacks and other short-term cost-reduction measures.".[10] In 1982, Wesray invested approximately $1 million in equity capital (with Simon contributing $330,000) and borrowed another $79 million to take private a Cincinnati-based greeting card company,Gibson Greetings, for $80 million. Eighteen months later, the company was taken public again, with a value of $290 million, and Simon's $330,000 investment was worth $66 million.
In 1984, he launched WSGP International, which concentrated on investments in real estate and financial service organizations in the western United States and on the Pacific Rim. In 1988, together with sonsWilliam E. Simon Jr. and J. Peter Simon, he founded William E. Simon & Sons, a globalmerchant bank with offices inNew Jersey,Los Angeles, andHong Kong. The firm is now[when?] extensively involved in providingventure capital. In 1990, he partnered with several investors to formCatterton-Simon Partners, aprivate equity firm focused on beverages and other consumer products, which today is known asCatterton Partners.
In the Anchor Glass case, Simon made millions more through deals with the company wherein the company leased its land, buildings, and equipment from Simon. Wesray also received banking fees for handling the subsequent purchase by Anchor of Midland Glass Company. Anchor Glass also bought casualty, liability, employee health and benefit insurance from a brokerage firm partially owned by Simon. The Anchor Glass corporate headquarters in Tampa was leased from Simon. Anchor Glass later admitted in an SEC filing, that "these arrangements ... were not the result of arm's length bargaining ... [and] were not ... favorable to the company". Anchor Glass was finally bought by a Mexican company, Vitro, S.A.[11]
Simmons Mattress Company, a company founded in 1886, was bought by Wesray and partners bought in 1986 for $120 million and sold it in 1989 for $241 million.[12]
By the late 1980s, Forbes magazine was estimating Simon's wealth at $300 million.
During his business career, Simon served on the boards of over thirty companies includingXerox,Citibank,Halliburton,Dart & Kraft, andUnited Technologies.
In 2017, William E. Simon & Sons merged with Massy Quick & Company in an all-equity transaction.[13]
Simon was an active member of theUnited States Olympic Committee, serving as treasurer from 1977 to 1981 and as president from 1981 to 1985, where he oversaw the1984 Winter Olympics inSarajevo and the1984 Summer Olympics inLos Angeles. He chaired the U.S. Olympic Foundation, created with the profits of theLos Angeles games, from 1985 through 1997, and was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1991. An additional athletics-related honor came on October 11, 1975, when Simon threw out the first pitch of the1975 World Series atBoston'sFenway Park on behalf of President Ford.
Simon received numerous awards during his career in sports. Among them are theOlympic Torch, issued by the U.S. Olympic Committee, and theOlympic Order, issued by theInternational Olympic Committee. Simon served as an officer or on the board of the Jesse Owens Foundation, theBasketball Hall of Fame, the National Tennis Foundation and Hall of Fame, the U.S. Amateur Boxing Foundation, theWomen's Sports Foundation, and theWorld Cup '94 organizing and executive committees.
Simon was a resident ofHarding Township, New Jersey.[14] ThesuperyachtItasca was owned by Simon; it was the first such yacht to pass through theNorthwest Passage, followed by a visit to Antarctica.[15]
He was married first to Carol Girard in 1950. William and Carol Simon had two sons and five daughters (Bill, J. Peter, Mary Beth, Carol Leigh, Aimee, Julie Ann, and Johanna). She died in 1995. Simon married his second wife, Tonia Adams Donnelley, in 1996.
Simon died on June 3, 2000, at age 72, inSanta Barbara, California, from complications ofpulmonary fibrosis.
At theU.S. Military Academy atWest Point, Simon established the William E. Simon Center for the Professional Military Ethic and at theU.S. Air Force Academy, he established the William E. Simon Center for Strategic Studies and a Simon professorship.
In 1976, Simon received the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award, named for formerU.S. SenatorJohn Heinz, for the "Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official", an award given out annually byJefferson Awards.[16]
In 1978, Simon andIrving Kristol founded The Institute For Education Affairs, which merged with the Madison Center to become theMadison Center for Educational Affairs in 1990.
Simon served as president of theJohn M. Olin Foundation and as trustee of TheJohn Templeton Foundation. He has also served on the boards of many of the nation's premier think tanks, includingThe Heritage Foundation and theHoover Institution. He was the author of two best-selling books,A Time for Truth in 1978 (ghostwritten bylibertarian authorEdith Efron) andA Time for Action in 1980.
In 1986, in recognition of his leadership in business, finance, and public service, the Graduate School of Management at theUniversity of Rochester was renamed theWilliam E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration.[17] The same year, Simon received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement.[18]
On October 26, 2007, a profile on Simon's sonWilliam Simon Jr. inThe Washington Post described Simon Sr. as "a legendary architect of the modern conservative movement" but also describes him as being "legendarily mean." The profile quotes Simon Sr.'s friend,Edwin Feulner, president ofThe Heritage Foundation, who described Simon Sr. as "a mean, nasty, tough bond trader who took no BS from anyone." It relates as an example of this aspect of his character that Simon Sr. "would awaken his children on weekend mornings by dousing their heads with buckets of cold water."[19]The Washington Post's profile of Simon Jr. analysizes the lasting impact of Watergate on Simon Sr. this way:[19]
... Simon [Sr.] came away from the experience of Watergate with a disgust for the partisan character of the affair, and the capital. The experience of [Nixon's] impeachment convinced him [...] not that partisanship was necessarily poisonous, but that his opponents were far better at partisanship than his side was. [...] Simon would spend the remainder of his life helping to redress the balance ...
Since 2001, theWilliam E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership has been awarded to distinguished living donors, includingJohn T. Walton,John Templeton, andPhil Anschutz.
In 2004, theIntercollegiate Studies Institute dedicated a $40,000 cash prize in honor of Secretary Simon. Each year since, the William E. Simon Fellowship for Noble Purpose has been awarded to a college senior desiring to live a life dedicated to serving humanity.
The William E. Simon Scholarship Fund provides financial assistance for academically highly qualified students of thePontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas,Angelicum who live inRome who would otherwise lack the resources to cover their educational expenses. Each scholarship award provides no more than 40% of the total annual expense of tuition, room, board, and related fees and expenses. Annually, the William E. Simon Scholarship Fund allocates 50% of the scholarship fund for lay students.[20]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byas Director of the Energy Policy Office | Director of the Federal Energy Office 1973–1974 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Secretary of the Treasury 1974–1977 | Succeeded by |
| Sporting positions | ||
| Preceded by | President of theUnited States Olympic Committee 1981–1985 | Succeeded by |
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