According to the Simons Foundation, Jim Simons, the billionaire investor, mathematician, and philanthropist, passed away in New York City at the age of 86.
As the founder of Renaissance Technologies, he played a pivotal role in advancing quantitative investing, utilizing mathematical and statistical models to discern investment opportunities.
Later in life, he also made significant contributions as a political donor and philanthropist.
From an early age, Simons exhibited a profound love for mathematics and numbers, as highlighted on his foundation’s website.
Born in Newton, Massachusetts, in 1938, he pursued a mathematics degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before obtaining a doctorate in math from the University of California, Berkeley.
“Mathematics was the only subject I liked,” Simons said in a 2015 interview for the Numberphile podcast.
Following his teaching roles at MIT and Harvard University, Simons transitioned to the Institute for Defense Analyses in Princeton, New Jersey, where he contributed as a code breaker for the National Security Agency.
As documented by his foundation, Simons faced dismissal from the institute in 1968 due to his vocal opposition to the Vietnam War.
Subsequently, he assumed a leadership position at Stony Brook University, serving as the head of the mathematics department.
Exiting academia in the late ’70s, Simons ventured into the financial realm, ultimately establishing Renaissance Technologies in 1982.
“In looking at the patterns of prices, I could see that there was something we could study here and that there were ways to predict prices mathematically and statistically,” Simons said on the Numberphile podcast.
“Gradually, we built models, and the models got better and better. Finally, the models replaced the fundamental stuff.”
Simons’ adept computer models played a pivotal role in expanding his hedge fund into a multi-billion-dollar enterprise.
In his later years, Simons dedicated himself to philanthropy, emerging as a prominent Democratic political donor.
The Simons Foundation has been instrumental in supporting autism research and fostering science and math education and research through its grants.
Notably, the foundation made headlines last year with a monumental $500 million donation to Stony Brook University’s endowment, marking the largest unrestricted gift ever bestowed upon an American university, as reported by the Simons Foundation.
“I joined Stony Brook University in 1968 as chair of their Department of Mathematics,” Simons said at the time.
“I knew then it was a top intellectual center with a serious commitment to research and innovation. But Stony Brook also gave me a chance to lead — and so it has been deeply rewarding to watch the university grow and flourish even more.”