James Harris aka “Jim” Simons is an American hedge fund manager, mathematician, and philanthropist. He is best known for his math related accomplishments as a code breaker and for studying pattern recognition.Apart from working as a professor of mathematics at the Stony Brook University, he founded one of the world’s most successful hedge fund companies called the Renaissance Technologies.
The company manages around US $27 billion worth of assets, as of now. Simons is known for being a very private person and rarely gives any interviews.
Let us now look at the illustrious family of Simons
Simons Parents – Matthew Simons & Marcia Simons
James’ father, Matthew Simons was the owner of a shoe factory and his mother Marcia Simons was a homemaker. The family was Jewish and James, their only son, was born in 1938.
Simons Spouse – Barbara Simons & Marilyn Hawrys Simons
Barbara Simons was born in the year 1941 and is the ex-wife of James Simons. She is a computer scientist and ex-president of the Association for Computing Machinery. She has also authored a book ‘Broken Ballots’, which is based on electronic voting.
Marilyn Hawrys Simons is the second wife of James Simons. She has over 25 years of experience in working with non-profit organizations and holds a Ph.D. in Economics. She is the president of the Simons Foundation since it was started back in 1994.
Simons Children – Nathaniel Simons, Late Paul Simons and Liz Simons (with Barbara)
Late Nicholas Simons and Audrey Simons (with Marilyn)
From a total of five Simons’ children, only three have survived. James had two sons and a daughter with his first wife Barbara, out of which Paul died in a car crash. With his second wife, Marilyn, James has two children. Their son Nicholas died in Bali from drowning and daughter, Audrey is autistic.
Net Worth
As of 2015, Simons has a net worth of US $14 billion. It makes him the 76th richest person in the world and 32nd in the United States.
Simons retired from his company, Renaissance Technologies, back in 2010. But he continues to be involved in the firm and gain benefits from its funds. An incessantly profitable and secretive black-box strategy known as the Medallion is said to be the reason behind the grand success of his firm. The man is widely known for being very charitable as he has contributed over US $1 billion to his foundation. He also supports and promotes the learning of mathematics among children and regularly contributes funds towards the same.