Simpson's co-creator dies

lahadaextranjera said:

He was a great man. It's a shame he couldn't stay any longer. I'm very impressed with the amount of charity work he has done for animals.

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After Mr. Simon received his cancer diagnosis, he announced his intention to give nearly all his “Simpsons” royalties to charity. “I’ve given most of it away,” he said in 2013 when asked about his wealth on the comedian Marc Maron’s podcast. “I won’t be rich again until we get our quarterly installment from ‘The Simpsons.’ ”
Mr. Simon was born on June 6, 1955, in the Los Angeles area, to Arthur and Joan Simon. His father owned a company that made discount clothing, his mother owned an art gallery, and Mr. Simon grew up comfortably in Beverly Hills, across the street from Groucho Marx and around the corner from Priscilla Presley.

He was recruited to play football at Stanford but quit after one day of practice. While he was a student there, he drew sports cartoons for The San Francisco Chronicle. He graduated in 1977.

Four years later, after he had worked as a storyboard artist and writer for Filmation Studios, he mailed an unsolicited script to the producers of “Taxi.” They accepted and produced his script, and by the following year, Mr. Simon had become one of the show’s main writers. He was soon writing and producing for several other shows, including “Cheers.”

After he left “The Simpsons,” Mr. Simon helped develop other series, including the short-lived “George Carlin Show” and the long-running “Drew Carey Show.” He also became a competitive poker player and hosted a program on Playboy TV featuring celebrities playing Texas hold ’em. He was a frequent guest on Howard Stern’s radio show. He was recently a consultant on the Charlie Sheen sitcom “Anger Management.”

In 1997, he entered a different arena entirely when he began managing the boxer Lamon Brewster. In 2004, Mr. Brewster won the World Boxing Organization heavyweight championship.

Mr. Simon’s marriage to the actress and competitive poker player Jennifer Tilly ended in divorce, but the two remained close. A brief marriage to Jami Ferrell, a Playboy model, also ended in divorce. Information about survivors was not immediately available.

One beneficiary of his philanthropy, the Sea Shepherd Society, which opposes whale hunting, named one of its boats for Mr. Simon. (Others are also named for celebrity supporters.) In 2011, his Sam Simon Foundation started a program that provides low-income families with free vegan meals.

Asked whether he was imposing his own vegan diet on those his charity served, Mr. Simon said: “They can eat all the meat they want. I’m just not going to pay for it.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/10/arts/television/sam-simon-who-helped-shape-the-simpsons-dies-at-59.html?_r=0

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