Awards

College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award - 1984

About Richard S. Simons

Richard S. Simons was the owner/manager of Richard Clothing Company in Marion, IN. Simons also wrote for the Indianapolis Star magazine, and co-authored two books; "Railroads of Indiana" (1997) and "Rivers of Indiana" (1985). He is also a former trustee of the Indiana Historical Society.

Simons graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from Indiana University in 1942, where he served as managing editor of the Indiana Daily Student newspaper. He first became the editor of the Winchester, IN newspaper from 1942-1944, and then became the editor of the Tipton (IN) Daily Tribune until 1948. Next, he moved over to the Indianapolis Star, where he was a feature writer for its Sunday magazine. This position allowed him to travel around the wold for years before he moved back to Marion in 1954 to take over his family's clothing company. Simons retired in 1988, but he continued to write about Indiana history and published several books. He received the Governor's Award of Excellence for "Rivers of Indiana". Simons has also received the Sagamore of the Wabash, the Indiana University College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award (1984), and was cited as the Kiwanian of the Year by the Marion Kiwanis Club in 2007.

He served in a variety of civic organizations in Marion and Grant County, as well as state and national organizations. Simons served 20 years as a trustee of the Indiana Historical Society and was its president for two terms. He was also a regional director of the National Railway Historical Society. Locally, Simons served on the board of trustees of Marion General Hospital and was its president during a period of expansion in the 1970s. He was a long-time member of the board of trustees of the Marion Public Library. He also was a member of service fraternities, Sigma Delta Chi, Alpha Phi Omega, and Sigma Alpha Mu. Simons also was a charter member and past president of the Marion Philharmonic Orchestra, past president of the Mississinewa Arts Council, a former director of the Grant County Society for Crippled Children and Adults, former director to the Grant County Historical Society and was a charter member of the Mississinewa Battlefield Society and founder of the Hoosierland Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. Simons also

served on the board of advisors at the Minnitristra Cultural Center in Muncie, and was a member of the Governor's Commission for Indiana Territorial

Sesquicentennial and a member of the advisory committee on Indiana Statehood Sesquicentennial.