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Marilyn Simons, left, and Jim Simons, third from left, toast the announcement of a $500 million contribution to Stony Brook University’s endowment with SBU President Maurie McInnis and Simons Foundation President David Spergel. File photo from John Griffin/ Stony Brook University

By Daniel Dunaief

Jim and Marilyn Simons put their money where their mind is.

The power Stony Brook University couple, who were already legends around campus for their intellectual and financial gifts to the university, outdid themselves and everyone else this year with their academic generosity — not to mention their busy travel schedule.

Through the Simons Foundation, the power couple contributed $500 million over seven years to Stony Brook University’s endowment, the largest unrestricted endowment gift to a higher education institution in American history.

The gift, announced in June, followed just a month after the Simons Foundation announced a $100 million contribution to Stony Brook University’s successful bid to develop Governors Island into a climate solutions center.

When the Simons Foundation announced the endowment gift, Lawrence Martin, professor in the Department of Anthropology and director of the Turkana Basin Institute, used a word echoed by many around campus to describe its impact: “transformative.”

For philanthropy that not only makes it possible for academic dreams — particularly among those who are first-generation college students — to become reality, but also that inspires meaningful contributions from other donors, TBR News Media is pleased to recognize the Simonses as 2023 People of the Year.

A significant victory

While the $500 million gift set records and offered financial fuel for an encouraging academic future, the victory in the competition to run a climate center on Governors Island positions Stony Brook to make meaningful contributions to the future of the planet.

Competing against other established universities with a depth of talent and breadth of ideas, including Northeastern University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a group co-led by CUNY and the New School, Stony Brook emerged as the winner for a climate exchange designed to advance research, innovation, sustainability, climate justice and outreach.

The $100 million in support from the Simons Foundation, coupled with $50 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies, “demonstrated the seriousness of Stony Brook’s proposal,” said Kevin Reed, associate provost for climate and sustainability programming and professor at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. The partnership “helped us get over the finish line” and was a “game changer for us.”

The initial support from the Simons Center is “opening doors as we continue to fundraise to build the center,” said Reed.

In its history, Stony Brook has helped address and solve challenges in New York as a public institution, Reed suggested. Becoming a flagship university for the state and with the support of the Simons Foundation, Stony Brook has opportunities to demonstrate leadership nationally and internationally, Reed added.

In addition to the climate exchange, Stony Brook will provide students with opportunities for internships that tap into public health, engineering and other interdisciplinary areas, which “came through in our proposal,” Reed added.

Multiplier effect

As for the $500 million donation, Jim and Marilyn Simons have not only stepped in to ensure the current and future academic strength and range of opportunities for faculty, students and the community, but they have also encouraged and inspired other donors.

With support from a program championed by Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and the Simons gift, donors can triple the effect of their contributions.

Long-term contributors to the university have stepped up this year.

The Simons donation, which has eclipsed what others have done, “encourages the rest of us to keep giving,” said Cary Staller, member of the Board of Trustees of the Stony Brook Foundation and of the SUNY Board of Trustees. “We can see the difference that Jim and Marilyn’s philanthropy has brought about at Stony Brook. It changed the culture.”

Staller has contributed $500,000 this year to the Staller Center Endowment. Staller, whose father donated $1.8 million in 1988 and whose family has contributed over $16 million, said he is talking to other family members about adding to their contributions.

Among the earlier and more noteworthy contributors to the university, the Staller family helped establish a pattern of supporting the Long Island institution.

“When we first gave money to Stony Brook to endow the Staller Center, it really raised a lot of eyebrows among folks,” said Staller. When they made their donation, the Stallers felt “Stony Brook was a preeminent institution that was worthy of support.”

The effect of the Simonses’ support has “eclipsed not only what we’ve done, but really what all of Stony Brook supporters have done,” said Staller.

Staller suggested previous contributions from the Simonses also made it possible to put together the Governors Island proposal.

Jim and Marilyn Simons helped create a Presidential Innovation and Excellence Fund, for which they pledged $25 million. They planned to match another $25 million for that fund, with donor matches that brought the total to $75 million.

“It’s incredible what that money has done,” said Staller, which includes supporting the Governors Island bid. “Those sorts of things cost real money, which is hard to find in a state system,” Staller added. “This allows Stony Brook to really achieve excellence.”

The givers that keep on giving

Stony Brook’s Advancement team recognizes that the couple represents an unusual gift that has kept on giving — to the tune of over $1.2 billion and counting.

“When I talk to my colleagues around the country in similar roles, they are frankly blown away by a philanthropist that has given a gift for the future institution” without any requirements about how the university or future presidents use the funds, said Justin Fincher, vice president for advancement and executive director of the Stony Brook Foundation. The contribution is “something that builds over time” that supports future leadership and demonstrates trust in the institution.

The contribution has “instantaneously raised our profile across the country,” said Fincher. The gift has “made a huge splash” with an instant boost to the school’s reputation.

Jed Shivers, senior vice president for finance and administration, suggested that “a lot of cylinders are starting to fire in synchrony right now.”

Shivers described the $500 million donation as a “seminal” moment for the university, reflecting the confidence the couple has in SBU President Maurie McInnis and the current administration.

This excitement has built throughout the university, with potential high-level recruits showing enthusiasm for a college system on the rise.

In a conversation with Kathleen McGary, the Thomas Muench endowed chair for economics, Shivers said McGary, who joined the university in June, was “extremely excited to come here. At a faculty level, the university has been very successful at recruiting high-quality deans, chairs and faculty.”

Carl Lejuez, provost at SBU, said the university hired seven deans last year, with most of them coming from the Association of American University, or AAU, top public flagship universities.

“Leaders who have strong vision want to come here,” Lejuez said.

These new recruits have helped build the sense of the university providing strong value, with many students who are in the bottom 20% in income when they enter rising to the top 20 percent in the years after graduating.

Hungry minds

Jim and Marilyn Simons do so much more than cutting checks, boosting the profile of the university and supporting its application for marquee projects. The couple is a visible presence wherever the Stony Brook University flag flies.

This year, Jim and Marilyn Simons attended a memorial conference on campus for the late famed paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey. Arriving early and chatting with McInnis and National Geographic Society CEO Jill Tiefenthaler, Jim and Marilyn Simons listened to several lectures, including a well-attended presentation by Louise Leakey, Richard’s daughter and director of public education and outreach for the Turkana Basin Institute and a research professor in the Department of Anthropology at Stony Brook University.

The Simonses “cannot get enough of learning about new things,” said Martin.

Martin highlighted their commitment to learning with an anecdote about a trip Jim and Marilyn made to Kenya earlier this year to honor Leakey.

While they were traveling in the Suguta Valley, which is one of the hottest places on Earth, one of the helicopters needed a spare part. Left in an area with no shade and that can reach over 130 degrees Fahrenheit, Jim and Marilyn Simons “decided to climb a hill to get a better view,” Martin recalled.

Later, while they were waiting for the rest of the group, they had a chance to rest. They had no interest in sitting and waiting, taking a walk with a geologist, where they learned about the geology of the Turkana Basin.

Lejuez suggested that the contributions from the Simons family will “likely have an impact for years to come,” helping to make Stony Brook a first choice university for prospective students.

Stony Brook hopes to reach the same echelon as successful and well-known public universities, such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Michigan, and several of the public universities in California, such as UCLA.

Shivers added that the contributions from Jim and Marilyn Simons speak volumes to other donors and investors.

“What better endorsement than to have one of the world’s greatest investors invest in Stony Brook University,” said Shivers.

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Contest, in its third year, part of endowment by children in memory of their mother

Ed Taylor, Sherry Cleary and Karen Reid review entries for the contest honoring their mother Helen Stein Shack at Emma S. Clark Memorial Library. Photo by Donna Newman

By Donna Newman

When Helen Stein Shack passed away three years ago, her children wanted to celebrate their mother’s life with a legacy she’d have loved. Where to do it was an easy decision because Shack was both a bibliophile and a big fan of the Emma S. Clark Memorial Library in Setauket.

Library Director Ted Gutmann recalled how Shack’s children approached him to establish an endowment that would support an annual event in her memory each April. They only needed to decide what the event would be.

“They wanted to do something at the library specifically dealing with children and literature created expressly for young readers,” Gutmann said.  “Librarian Nanette Feder had a group of teenagers working with younger children. We asked the teens if they’d like to try writing picture books. We created a contest, established rules, and offered a cash prize. The first year we promoted the contest through social media, the library website, department chairs and school librarians. Now it’s taken on a life of its own.”

Contest winners with the Shack family and Councilwoman Valerie Cartright. Ed Taylor, Karen Shack Reid, Cartright, Michelle Pacala, Samantha White, Katie Zhao, Sherry Cleary and Nicole Freeley. Photo from the Emma S. Clark Memorial Library

In an interview with three of Shack’s four children, as they gathered at the library Feb. 4 to review the entries, daughter Sherry Cleary explained their thinking.

“The inspiration for this library thing was that she really loved the process of children learning to read — and she loved this library,” she said. “It was our first choice to memorialize and honor her because when people would visit her, she would say, ‘Want to see my library? Let’s go see my library.’ She would bring people here, which is a little weird. It would make me laugh.”

All four children agreed that the library was the appropriate spot for Shack’s lasting legacy.

And now, the library is pleased to announce this year’s prize winners in the 3rd Annual Helen Stein Shack Picture Book Awards — a contest showcasing writing and illustration talent in Three Village secondary schools.

Each year students in grades 7 through 12 are invited to submit an original children’s picture book created by a single person or an author/illustrator team. There are two judging categories: Grades 7 to 9 and Grades 10 to 12. There is a first and second place winner in each category.

First Prize (Grades 7 to 9) goes to Eliana Sasson, an eighth-grader, for “We Can Still Be Friends,” which teaches children to embrace and celebrate differences. Second Prize is awarded to Nicole Freeley, a ninth-grader for “Sammy the Sock Monkey.” They are both students at P. J. Gelinas junior high.

First Prize (Grades 10 to 12) goes to Ward Melville high school sophomore Katie Zhao for “Claire and Her Bear,” about a young girl whose beloved teddy bear goes missing and the emotions she experiences when this happens. Second Prize is awarded to Cassidy Oliver, also a Ward Melville sophomore, for “Color Your World.”

“I think she  had this drive to do things differently. The way she grandparented — and her roots in education — inspired us to [create] these awards.”

—Sherry Cleary

Shack was an intelligent and courageous woman. After graduating from Brooklyn College in the early 1950s, she obtained an elementary school teaching job in California, and boarded a train heading west, alone.

“At that time, it was an extraordinarily brave thing to do,” said Cleary. “People got married and stayed in Brooklyn. I think she  had this drive to do things differently. The way she grandparented — and her roots in education — inspired us to [create] these awards.”

Cleary went on to describe the connection Shack made with her son, the first grandchild.

“I had the first grandchild,” she said, “but we were very far away. She didn’t see him often. She would tape her voice reading a children’s book and then send the tape and the book to him. So, he would sit in a big blue chair in our living room and listen intently to the tape and turn the pages when she made the noise [that signaled to do that]. He had connection to her in that way — and later, he became a librarian.”

Eventually, Shack had seven grandchildren.

Knowing how important children’s literature was to their mother, the family wanted their event to incorporate it in some way. Although Shack did not return to classroom teaching after remarrying and having two more daughters, when the girls were grown Shack tutored kids in the public schools. Her focus was on giving them access to literature. More than just teaching reading, she gave them access to books.

“And what you can get from books,” added daughter Karen Reid, “all the information. All questions get answered in books. And if you don’t have questions — read a book — because then you’ll have questions. [Our mother] was a big questioner and always wanted us to seek information in books. She thought it was wonderful that authors could write information in a way that kids would want to read it.” That impressed her.

Shack’s only son, Ed Taylor, said he didn’t think there was anything spectacular about his mother.

Helen Shack, second from left, with her children at Karen Reid’s 2011 wedding. Photo from Shack family

“She was just a loving person,” he said, “loved her family, her kids and her grandchildren, nephews and nieces. She always stressed education, always stressed reading. I don’t know if she was much different from other moms, but she was ours. She was special to us; but I think everyone’s mother is special to them. The best compliment I could give her:  she was a good mother.”

Cleary talked about a third daughter, Barbara Kelly, who has three children. The kids would come for two weeks in the summer to visit their ‘savta’ (Hebrew for grandmother).

“They’d come in the house and unload all their stuff and she’d say, ‘Did you bring books?’ and they’d look at her and say, ‘No, we didn’t bring books all the way from California,’” Cleary said. “And she’d say, ‘Let’s go to the library.’ She’d bring them to the library to get books. As the children got older, on their way to visit they’d ask each other, ‘How long do you think it’ll be till we go to the library?’”

Shack fostered the notion that you should never be without a book. Unsurprisingly, her progeny are all readers. “The irony is, because she was so connected to the library, she did not have a lot of books in the house,” said Cleary, “which used to drive me crazy. She’d say, ‘I don’t buy books. I go to the library.’”

Winning authors will be recognized at a private awards ceremony at the library, Thursday, April 27 at 7 p.m. Each First Prize winner receives a $400 scholarship; each Second Prize winner receives a $100 scholarship. Bound copies of all the winning entries will be presented and added to the library’s Local Focus collection. All contest entrants receive certificates of participation. Light refreshments will be served, donated by The Bite Size Bake Shop, a local Three Village business.

The Emma S. Clark Memorial Library, is located at 120 Main Street in Setauket and provides public library service to all residents of the Three Village Central School District.

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