Obituary: Paul Simon 1928-2003

This article appeared in our local Republican-owned paper. The editor, while a conservative Republican, is a long-time admirer of Sen. Simon's.

Paul Simon dies at 75
Illinois' Favorite Son

The Douglas County Republican
December 10th, 2003

"Former U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Paul Simon died at 1 p.m. Tuesday at St. John's Hospital in Springfield of complications after heart surgery. Simon was 75.

By his bedside were daughter Sheila Simon, son Martin Simon, wife Patti Simon and her daughter, Jennie Derge. His first wife, Jeanne Hurley Simon, whom he married in 1960, died in 2000.

Recognized instantly by his trademark bow tie and winning smile, Sen. Simon was remembered as a man of integrity and conscience by friends and foes alike after spending 56 years in the public arena as a newspaper publisher, politician, author and teacher.

He returned to Southern Illinois after leaving the U.S. Senate in 1997 to found the Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and was its director when he died.

Simon defeated U.S. Sen. Charles H. Percy, R-Ill., in 1984 to win his Senate seat. Simon ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 1988 after winning only his home state of Illinois in the Democratic primaries.

"I leave the field of active campaigning with no regrets for having made the race," Simon said, "because it has been an exhilarating experience to get to know our nation better."

Simon was praised Tuesday as a man of integrity who stood for ethical public behavior. Simon crusaded against organized crime's links to corruption upon being named an editor and publisher in Troy at the age of 19. Simon eventually parlayed a small newspaper empire in central and Southern Illinois into a political career spanning 40 years of elective office.

Among Simon's best-known legislation was the state's first act to require open meetings by local governments under virtually all circumstances. The law was the first of its kind in the nation.

Simon advocated for liberal causes and increased funding for social programs. But he also campaigned for a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It was a crusade supported by many conservatives. Unlike conservatives, Simon said taxes should be increased to pay for additional social spending. Simon railed against profligate spending that led to growing federal debt. He advocated shifting federal priorities toward social spending. "Liberal does not mean wastrel", Sen. Simon often said.

Simon's last public political act was to endorse Vermont Gov. Howard Dean for president, which he announced from his hospital bed on Friday as he awaited heart surgery.

Simon wrote or co-wrote 21 books, including "Our Culture of Pandering," published this year by Southern Illinois University Press.

Dr. David Kenney, co-author of "An Uncertain Tradition: U.S. Senators From Illinois, 1818-2003" titled his chapter on Simon, "A Moralist in Politics."

Kenney, an SIUC professor emeritus of political science, said Simon "was a totally honest person. He had a very keen sense of what was right and what was wrong."

Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he learned of Simon's death during a signing ceremony for ethics legislation meant to limit the influence of lobbyists and police the conduct of government. Blagojevich said he leaned on Simon's advice while formulating the legislation, now a state law.

"When I think of good government, clean government, high ideals and strong ethics, the first person in Illinois that I think about is Paul Simon," Blagojevich said by telephone. "It's almost as if a major piece of unfinished business was done with the governor signing historic landmark ethics legislation and then Senator Simon feeling it was time to go to heaven."

Blagojevich remembered Tuesday that Simon took to the airwaves on his behalf when his character was being questioned during his 2002 campaign. Blagojevich said the endorsement helped him thanks to Simon's standing as a paragon of political virtue. "If Paul Simon said it, that was good enough for Illinois' Democrats. Paul enjoyed tremendous respect all along the political spectrum."

U.S. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill., praised Simon Tuesday on the floor of the Senate. "Many people may have disagreed with Senator Simon's policy positions on a variety of issues, but no one ever questioned his ethics and integrity. Illinois has lost one of it's greatest heroes."

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who served on Simon's Senate staff, saw the senator operate in person.

"Whether he was meeting in a board room in Chicago, questioning a witness at a hearing in the U.S. Senate, talking with a group of farmers in Decatur or pounding out one of his columns on an old typewriter at home, Paul Simon was always on the side of ordinary people. No other option ever crossed his mind," Madigan said in a news release.

Simon left college without a degree and at 19 became the nation's youngest editor and publisher at the Troy Tribune in Troy, Ill., where he exposed organized crime's connection with gambling in the Metro East.

He was elected to the Illinois House from Troy in 1954, elected to the Illinois Senate in 1962 and elected lieutenant governor in 1968. In 1972 Simon was defeated in the Democratic gubernatorial primary by Dan Walker, who then won the governorship.

While out of elective office, Simon started the public affairs reporting program at Sangamon State University, now the University of Illinois at Springfield.

In 1974, Simon moved to Carbondale when former U.S. Rep. Ken Gray, D-West Frankfort, chose not to run for re-election, Kenney said. Simon was elected to the seat and served for 10 years until winning election to the U.S. Senate.

In addition to serving as director of the Public Policy Institute, Simon taught history, journalism and political science at SIUC.

Funeral arrangements for Sen. Simon are incomplete at press time."

Paul Simon was my Congressman and Senator, and I worked on his Presidential campaign. The man was truly a servant of the people, and one who took his public responsibility seriously. The nation has lost a great, moral voice. My condolances to his family.

He was my friend, too, and I miss him more than words can say. Godspeed, Paul.