Watch: Jim Simons’ Life, Legacy and 5 Guiding Principles

Simons Foundation co-founder Jim Simons — an award-winning mathematician and widely regarded as the father of modern quantitative investing — led an extraordinary life, championing new ideas and ways of thinking as a mathematician, an investor and a philanthropist. On May 10, 2024, Simons died at the age of 86, leaving behind an unparalleled legacy.

In a new short film, those who knew Simons recall his incredible life and his impact on math, science and those around him. “I remember thinking, ‘I never met anyone like this before,’” his wife, Marilyn Simons, who co-founded the Simons Foundation with him in 1994, says in the film.

Jim Simons: Life and Philanthropy chronicles his contributions and careers: his early fascination with mathematics, his time as a code breaker, his mathematical collaborations with Shiing-Shen Chern, the founding of the most successful hedge fund in history, Renaissance Technologies, and his numerous philanthropic endeavors.

The film also includes the five guiding principles to which Simons attributed his success. “These are principles, which even without articulating them to myself, I have followed,” Jim said during a talk at the 2014 International Congress of Mathematicians in Seoul, South Korea.

Throughout his life, his friends and colleagues remember Simons’ deep curiosity, his belief in the importance of math and basic science research, and his originality.

“Jim not only didn’t follow the pack, after a while, the pack realized where Jim was going was the place to go,” says Simons Foundation President David Spergel in the film.