Obituary of Sydney H. Simon

Sydney H. Simon, a life-long resident of New Jersey, died at his home in Cedar Crest, Pompton Plains, on Saturday, November 11, 2006 after a long illness. Mr. Simon graduated with a B.S. in education from Rutgers University, where he learned a concept that became his personal mantra for the rest of his life, "If the student hasn't learned, the teacher hasn't taught." After completing his student teaching at Thomas Jefferson High in Elizabeth, he was asked to take over 12th grade English classes for a sick teacher. These ungraded classes were filled with students marking time. Mr. Simon turned the bedlam of the classes into a training ground for young adults about to enter the work force, teaching them what to write on applications and how to answer interview questions. Mr. Simon continued teaching while serving three years in the Army Air Corps during WWII, working with draftees at Scott Field, the Army Airways Communications Center in Belleville, Illinois, in an eight-week radio mechanics course. After returning to his hometown, Elizabeth, he continued to educate others, training sales people and delivery and warehouse workers in his growing family business, Simon's Toy Store. During this same period he served as chairman of Temple Beth El's Sunday school in Elizabeth, where he managed a school of 16 volunteer teachers and 300 students. All of this experience served him well in his longest career, financial services. Mr. Simon joined Equitable of New York in 1960, and subsequently received his licenses as an equities and insurance salesman and financial consultant. Early on he entered management, where Equitable satisfied his gut desire to teach by allowing him to hire and train people, while continuing his personal sales success, leading to the prestigious Equitable Hall of Fame. Semi-retired from Equitable at age 65, Mr. Simon took on new forms of teaching. Using his love for jazz and its performers, he began visiting senior centers, nursing homes, and hospitals to share this passion, armed with a boom box, illustrated song sheets, and a wealth of information. But most of his time was dedicated to counseling new businesses for SCORE, the counseling arm of the Small business Administration, at Fairleigh Dickinson University. He then became a Director of Training for SCORE Chapter 24, and started counseling all over the country through e-mail. Mr. Simon maintained that counseling for SCORE was a blessing that kept him alert and active to the end, never forgetting his mantra that if the student hasn't learned, the teacher hasn't taught. Mr. Simon was the beloved husband of Lilian B. Simon, loving father of Barbara Senneway, Peter Simon, and Amy Diamond; grandfather of Richard and Joseph Senneway, Samantha, Michael and Alexandra Diamond and proud great grandfather of Bradley, Dylan, and Brooklyn Senneway and Kasen Silva. Funeral services will be held on Monday, November 13th at 12 noon in the Higgins Home for Funerals, 752 Mountain Boulevard, Watchung. Interment will be in Mount Lebanon Cemetery, Iselin.