Long Island's debt to James Simons

Long Island's scientific, mathematical and research landscape wouldn't be what it is without the generosity, kindness and genius of James Simons.

Simons, who died Friday at age 86, is known to the world for his contributions to mathematics, his founding of the East Setauket hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, his wealth, and his success. But on Long Island, Simons will forever be responsible for propelling the region to new heights.

His contributions transformed Stony Brook University into one of the state's flagship institutions and one of the nation's leading schools. Simons also led the way in building the region's research arms, including Brookhaven National Lab and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Simons and his wife, Marilyn, began the Simons Foundation in 1994, focusing even then on math, science, education and research and consistently supporting Long Island institutions in game-changing ways. More than a decade ago, Simons saved BNL, which was facing drastic federal funding cuts. At Cold Spring Harbor Lab, the couple's generosity built a new center for quantitative biology and funded autism research. Even now, Marilyn Simons chairs the board of trustees for Cold Spring Harbor Lab. 

Last year, the foundation contributed significantly to SBU's successful effort to establish the New York Climate Exchange on Governors Island. Months later, Simons provided Stony Brook with an extraordinary $500 million in unrestricted funds, one of the largest charitable gifts ever to an American public university.

Such generosity ripples through the Island and its institutions. It allows them to hire the best faculty and scientists, expand research opportunities, provide scholarships to deserving students, and fuel the region's economic growth. Simons' gifts will help generations of Long Islanders in ways we can only imagine. “A lot of students who come from families who are unable to afford college will benefit from him, and who knows which of them will become future scientists, researchers and Nobel laureates,” said Kevin Law, who chairs the Stony Brook Council.

That's a stunning legacy for a man who became SBU's math department chairman in 1968, catapulted his mathematical knowledge into financial success, and who, with Marilyn, provided their first donation to the school in 1983 — of $750.

Over the years, Simons faced personal tragedy. His 34-year-old son Paul, an avid cyclist, was killed in 1996 when a car struck his bicycle in the Stony Brook area, and 24-year-old son Nick drowned in 2003 during a trip to Indonesia. Both times, the Simonses paid tribute, establishing an 83-acre nature preserve in Head of the Harbor Village in memory of Paul, and putting funds toward rural health care in Nepal in memory of Nick.

Now it's Long Island's turn to pay tribute to James Simons, by nurturing what he so generously put into place and by building toward the future for the region he so wisely envisioned. We owe him, Marilyn and his family — who are sure to continue his work — an unquantifiable debt of gratitude.