Stony Brook University honored the legacy of the late James “Jim” H. Simons on Wednesday, Oct. 23 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics (SCGP) Auditorium. Simons died earlier this year on May 10. He was 86 years old.
The memorial service began with welcoming remarks from Interim President Richard L. McCormick, followed by three separate panels which thematically categorized Simons’ extensive contributions not only to the University, but also in bridging the mathematics and physics disciplines together. All panelists at the event had worked with Simons in some capacity.
One of the panels discussed how Simons built “a university for the 21st century.” The panelists were David Spergel, the president of the Simons Foundation, Abhay Deshpande, a distinguished professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Luis Álvarez-Gaumé, the director of the SCGP and a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Lawrence Martin, an emeritus director of the Turkana Basin Institute (TBI) and William Wertheim, the executive vice president of Stony Brook Medicine.
Spergel began the discussion by describing how he and Simons worked together to create the Flatiron Institute, an internal research division under the Simons Foundation.
“Jim really took great pleasure and was involved with the details [of developing the Institute]. I remember Jim looking at the architect’s plans for the Flatiron Institute, recognizing that this room on this floor wasn’t right, the size just wasn’t right. I thought, ‘You can see that?’” Spergel said. “Of course, Jim was right.”
Spergel then went on to discuss how successful Simons knew the Simons STEM Scholars Program would be at Stony Brook.
“[It] seemed like a place where if this seed was planted, it would thrive,” Spergel said.
Spergel ended his discussion on his connection with Simons by highlighting how he and his wife, Marilyn, made way for other people to be successful.
“It is really Jim’s investing and building and structuring [and] creating things that will be enabling [people] for the future,” Spergel said. “This is something that Jim and Marilyn [Simons], and really all of us at the Simons Foundation, are so pleased to see how these things are enabling Stony Brook to thrive and lay the groundwork for an even stronger and more influential institution in the future.”
Martin spoke next and discussed how the Simons were involved with the construction of TBI.
“Jim and Marilyn were not just people who wrote a check to support the project,” Martin said. “They showed up [to Kenya] and they would take an active interest in every stage of development of [TBI].”
Following Martin, Wertheim described the origins of the Medical and Research Translation (MART) building name. In 2015, the Simons and the Simons Foundation donated $150 million to the University with the primary focus of the MART building centering the top health issues at the time, such as cancer.
Kenneth Kaushansky, a former dean and senior vice president of the Renaissance School of Medicine, wanted to name the MART building after Simons. The proposed name was Simons’ Medical and Research Translation (SMART).
“[Kaushansky] was told by Jim that there were more than enough things at Stony Brook that were already named after him,” Wertheim said. “In the spirit of him remaining behind-the-scenes, [he was] happy to make sure [the MART building] got built, happy to create the space. [He was] not so happy to put his name on it.”
Executive Vice President and Provost Carl Lejuez gave closing remarks at the event. In his speech, he emphasized how the tremendous growth and recent success of Stony Brook University was unprecedented because of Simons.
“When I think about what Jim Simons has done as a builder is in terms of culture, a culture where Stony Brook is not afraid to take big swings, not afraid to succeed, not afraid to make mistakes,” Lejuez said.
Lejuez then posed the question of what would have happened to the University if Simons never became involved with it.
“[When I was writing my closing remarks], I kept coming back to ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ and the idea of what Stony would rather be like if Jim Simons was not anymore,” Lejuez said. “I actually put together an entire set of remarks about that. Then, I kept coming to the point where people gave George Bailey his money and he lost it. That would never happen if they gave it to Jim Simons.”
Lejuez concluded his remarks by reminding those in the audience that the University will continue to go above and beyond because of Simons.
“This is a great university, and we are even greater because of the Simons and the Simons Foundation, and we are going to continue to do amazing things together.”
After the event, Vice President for Student Affairs Rick Gatteau described a personal encounter he had with Simons.
“He is so funny, he’s the kind of person who has the driest sense of humor and he’s an amazing storyteller. Those attributes of his are what I appreciated the most about him over [the 23 years I’ve been at Stony Brook],” Gatteau said.
Gatteau also acknowledged the importance of Simons’ work to the University.
“The Simons name will live on forever,” Gatteau said. “I thought it was such an interesting comment [made by Lejuez], ‘What if there was not a Jim Simons at Stony Brook?’ We’d be a much different institution. We would not nearly be at the [Association of American Universities] flagship status without his long story.”
McCormick said it was hard to imagine how the University would be today if it wasn’t for the contributions Simons made throughout his lifetime.
“Thanks to the Infinity Gift, the Simons legacy will go to live on forever,” McCormick said. “It will enable us to attract additional gifts to the University and spend them to enhance the University’s already distinguished academic profile.”
