A tribute to J. Richard Simon

Sue Simon is a member of the Diaz family who has been dedicated to the tournament and its mission since the beginning.  We would like to honor Sue’s father, J. Richard Simon, who lost a long fought battle to Parkinson’s disease on May 3rd, at the age of 87.

Sue describes her dad as “kind, curious, loved the arts (especially symphonies and ballet), an avid runner (bow-legged style), a great listener (though he never uttered more than about 30 words per day), extremely liberal (spent his latter years glued to MSNBC), supported scholarships for high school and college students across the country, connoisseur of Scotch, taught Industrial Psychology and Engineering at the University of Iowa for 50+ years (google "the Simon Effect" if you've been thinking about stimulus and response issues), not handy with tools, an Anglophile (took 7 sabbaticals and his Fulbright year in the UK), a consumer of dessert at every meal, and possessor of twinkly brown eyes and tender feet.”