George W. Simons, Jr. was born in Portland, Oregon, on February 23, 1891. Upon the death of his mother, he was raised by his grandmother in Rochelle, Illinois. He attended Beloit College (Beloit, Wisconsin) for his undergraduate education, graduating with a science degree in 1912. After taking classes at Harvard University, he obtained a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1915, and briefly worked on the M.I.T. teaching staff. Mr. Simons moved to Jacksonville, Florida, in 1916, where he resided for the remainder of his life. His professional engineering career began when he was hired by the Florida State Board of Health to establish the Bureau of Sanitary Engineering in 1916. He served as Chief Engineer of the Bureau for nine years. During this time, he founded the first Anti-Mosquito Association of Florida, and was appointed to Jacksonville's first planning board in 1922. In 1925, he resigned his state position and joined the Consolidated Development and Engineering Corp. of Jacksonville, a private company active in land development during the region's construction boom of the 1920s. Named Chief Engineer of the Company, he was instrumental in the development of the Jacksonville residential subdivisions, Venetia and Lake Forest, and the Woodlawn subdivision in St. Petersburg, Florida. His lifetime work for which he was to become known - as a planning, zoning and municipal consultant - commenced in 1928, when he was hired by the City of Jacksonville to develop a comprehensive city plan and zoning ordinance. The following year, the city of Miami Beach hired him to prepare its first zoning ordinance. Over the next forty years, he was retained by over seventy municipalities to prepare planning documents and reports. He also created economic and marketing studies for Jacksonville and Wilmington, North Carolina. His professional affiliations were numerous: Past President and Fellow of the Florida Engineering Society; life member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Institute of Planners, and the American Society of Planning Officials; honorary member of the American Public Works Association; and a member of the Institute of Traffic Engineers, National Housing and Redevelopment Association, and the National Society of Professional Engineers. During World War II, he was appointed as a special consultant to the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta, and later served as Coordinator for the Florida State War Production Board. He retired from professional life in 1970. His prodigious civic service, contributions, and memberships in associations and organizations in Jacksonville were varied and extensive over a sixty year span. He assumed a leadership role in many of them, including two years as President of the Community Chest-United Fund, twelve years as a Commissioner / Member of the Housing Authority, seven years as President of the Civic Music Association, Trustee of the Jacksonville Public Library, President of the Council of Social Agencies, Little Theatre of Jacksonville, and Torch Club. In particular, his association with the Civitan Club, on both a local and national level, was a life-long involvement. He frequently attended national Civitan Club conventions, and served as International President in 1930 and 1931. Religious affiliations were particularly meaningful to Mr. Simons, and he maintained a strong and vigorous membership with the Riverside Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville. He served as the Men's Bible Class teacher for 32 years, and Elder of the Church and Board of Trustees. From 1962-1977, he wrote a weekly Sunday School column in the Florida Times-Union newspaper. He was married to Marion Guest Simons and had two children, a daughter, Christian, and a son, George Guest Simons. After an extended illness, Mr. Simons died on July 8, 1977, at the age of 86.

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