26 Facts About Norton Simon

Norton Winfred Simon was an American industrialist and philanthropist.

Norton Simon was at one time one of the wealthiest men in America.

When Norton Simon was sixteen years old, he relocated with his family from Portland to San Francisco following his mother's death.

Norton Simon was renamed Val Vita Food Products Company, and, under Simon's supervision, expanded its product line to include numerous other fruit and vegetable products.

Norton Simon was eventually sold by Simon to Hunt's Foods, after which Simon retired in 1969.

Norton Simon spent his later years serving in philanthropic and non-profit roles, acting as a regent on the boards of the University of California and Reed College, as well as the Los Angeles Music Center, the California School of Professional Psychology, and the Institute for Advanced Study.

Norton Simon was born in Portland, Oregon to a Jewish family, the eldest child of Myer and Lillian Norton Simon.

Norton Simon's mother died in Seaside when Simon was fourteen of an acute digestive disorder related to type 1 diabetes.

When he was sixteen, Norton Simon relocated with his father and siblings to San Francisco, where they moved into his aunt and uncle's home.

Norton Simon left Berkeley after just six weeks to start a sheet metal distribution company.

Norton Simon enjoyed early success and invested $7,000 in 1927 in an orange juice bottling plant in Fullerton, California, which was insolvent, and renamed it Val Vita Food Products Company.

Norton Simon soon added other fruit and vegetables to the product lines and purchased canning equipment.

Norton Simon Inc was later acquired by Esmark in 1983, which merged with Beatrice Foods the next year.

Norton Simon accumulated a significant private art collection which included works of the Impressionists, Old Masters, modern and native art.

Scholars including the critic Clement Greenberg and the Metropolitan Museum of Art curator Theodore Rousseau studied the Duveen purchases for Norton Simon and were able to identify numerous misattributions.

Norton Simon ended up selling much of the collection and only kept around 130 objects, primarily paintings, a handful of sculptures, a few porcelains, and a cape purportedly worn by Charles IV of Spain.

Norton Simon served as a trustee of the Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science and Art and supported the development of the LA County Museum of Art.

Norton Simon initially lent most of his art collection to that Museum although as it expanded he pioneered the "museum without walls" concept by actively lending his collection to different museums around the world.

In 1972, Norton Simon bought a tenth-century South Indian bronze Nataraja, or dancing Shiva, from New York dealer Ben Heller for $900,000.

In exchange, the Indian government agreed that Norton Simon could keep and display the bronze in his museum for nine years first.

Norton Simon ultimately assumed control and naming rights, and in 1974 it was renamed the Norton Simon Museum.

However, Norton Simon withdrew his offer three months after the announcement was made.

Norton Simon retired from active involvement in his business in 1969.

Norton Simon accepted appointments to the University of California Board of Regents, the Carnegie Commission on the Future of Higher Education, the boards of Reed College, the Los Angeles Music Center, the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University, and the Institute for Advanced Study.

In 1970, Norton Simon opposed US Senator George Murphy's bid for a second term in the Republican primary.

Norton Simon died of pneumonia at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles on June 2,1993.