Paul Hartke invited Bob Simon on his pontoon boat on Lake Audubon when Simon was in his 90s. “He stood on the back of the pontoon boat and we revved the motor and he beamed, ‘This makes you feel like a kid.’ That’s what kept him going I think.'”

“It was fun to see him around all the time. He’s been the guy who’s always symbolized what everybody likes about Reston,” said Hartke.

“I wanted to talk to somebody about him today, because I wanted to say what a good guy he was,” he said.

“I think we lost one of the true giants today,” said John Lovaas. “He was the only person that I met personally in my life who was a true visionary of gigantic proportion. He could look at something and see what it really might be in 25 years.”

“We sure did lose a wonderful, wonderful person to Fairfax County,” said Sharon Bulova, chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. “He has been a real visionary. But more than that, he has been the heart and soul of Reston and has been so much fun.

“I really enjoyed spending time with him. He lights up whole events,” she said.

Sridhar Ganesan, president of Reston Citizens Association, enjoyed Simon’s daily presence in Reston.

“It was fantastic to see the founder of Reston setting an example as an active member of the community. We were lucky to have Bob around, run into him on his walks or have other opportunities to interact with him. Reston will miss his guiding hand voice and hand,” Ganesan said.

“He was a good friend and liked everyone. We at Cornerstones feel blessed to have worked with him,” said Kerrie Wilson, of Cornerstones.

“Everyone is going to benefit from the legacy he leaves. … He has been an inspiration to all of us for so long.”

“Of course, it’s with sadness, but we also all say, ‘Thank you.’ Thank you for having a Bob Simon,” said Supervisor Cathy Hudgins.

“He gave all he had to our community,” she said, “and showed what a model community can be. He built Reston, he came back, and he continued to give.”

ROBERT E. SIMON died Monday, Sept. 21, 2015 at home at Lake Anne in Reston. He was 101.

Simon grew up in New York, where his father ran a real estate business whose holdings included Carnegie Hall. Also among Robert Simon Sr.’s holdings was part of Radburn, N.J., America’s first Garden City that was founded in 1929.

When his father died in 1935, Simon was 21 and had just graduated from Harvard. Within a couple years, he was running the family real estate business.

Part of his responsibilities involved running Carnegie Hall. Most of Simon’s co-workers lived nearby in Manhattan, while Simon commuted by train from Syosset, a suburb in Long Island. His long commute and other suburban experiences translated directly into his vision for Reston of working, playing and living in the same area.

Simon also saw the value of convenient, local recreation and shopping centers at this time in his life. During this period, Simon also developed his appreciation for the value of housing opportunities for all income levels, not just the very wealthy.

In 1961, Simon purchased a 6,750-acre parcel of land in Northern Virginia, located 18 miles from D.C. Simon inspected the land and instantly fell in love, even though at the time it was in the middle of nowhere. Fairfax County was then the fastest growing county in the country and nearby Dulles International Airport was being built.

Simon decided to develop Reston into a New Town, a large-scaled development that includes all functions of a well-rounded community — residential, commercial, industrial, cultural, recreational and civic. The team first developed Lake Anne and the more traditional Hunters Woods simultaneously. The first families started moving into their homes in November 1964.

In the fall of 1967, Reston’s population had grown to 2,500, though it had fallen short of projections. The development group headed by Simon made an agreement with Gulf Oil to get loans of millions of dollars to cover some of the debts Reston was quickly accruing. But the new managers forced Simon out.

"What happened was we were going full blast and running out of money," Simon said in an interview with the Connection on the occasion of his 100th birthday.

"They said, ‘you’ll have to leave,’ and he said, ‘no, you’ll have to fire me,’" said Simon’s stepdaughter and Reston Museum board member Lynn Lilienthal.

At the time, Reston was one of the only places in Virginia where housing was not segregated.

Simon left Reston and moved back to New York, but returned to Reston in 1993.

NOW HIS LEGACY starts.

“We don’t expect this even though he’s 101. We see him in public, we see him talking. You expect him to go on forever,” said Ganesan, of the Reston Citizens Association.

Joseph Letteri, a junior at South Lakes, said Simon just a couple of months ago “opened his house and took time to meet with me” for Letteri’s leadership project for high school.

“I am so honored to have met a visionary like Mr. Simon. I learned a lot,” he wrote The Connection.

Hartke recalled the Nature Fun Run earlier this year, when Simon was the one to call the beginning of the race. “Before he said, “Ready, Set, Go,” said Hartke, “he said, ‘It’s so nice to see so many children running here today rather than moving their thumbs on a cell phone.”

“Bob Simon created Reston in pursuit of a far-sighted vision of what a community should be like, a community that is inclusive for people of all ages, backgrounds and income levels, a place where people work, live and enjoy their leisure time to the fullest within the same community,” said Ganesan. “My family and 65,000 others today are the beneficiaries of Bob Simon’s vision to establish Reston.”

MANY OTHERS have made statements about the importance of Bob Simon.

U.S. Rep. Gerald Connolly wrote, “I was extremely saddened to learn of the loss of our beloved Bob Simon. To the end of his 101 years, he was a grand man of extraordinary vision, heart, and charm. Most people know Bob as the founder of Reston, but his insistence on making Reston the first racially integrated housing development in Virginia also made him a civil rights pioneer. He was an environmentalist before the term was invented, a patron of the arts, and passionate advocate for social justice. The Northern Virginia region owes much of its character and success to Bob. I feel this loss sharply and shall miss his dedication, his laugh and his friendship. A local giant is gone from our midst."

“Bob Simon was not only the founder of Reston, he was the person who conceived and helped implement the way Reston was and continues to be governed,” said Reston Association CEO, Cate Fulkerson. “He placed his trust in the association and residents to protect the founding principles – principles which have led to Reston setting the standard for all planned communities. Bob Simon will be dearly missed, but his work and vision will continue on through the efforts of the association, its members and volunteers.”

“Bob was a man ahead of his time,” said Reston Association Board president, Ellen Graves. “His wisdom throughout the years is what still guides us today. His passion for this community was evident in everything he did, whether in advising the board or in just having a friendly conversation with a neighbor at Lake Anne.”

Simon and his family have asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to Cornerstones.

“As you might imagine, we were very humbled by it,” said Kerrie Wilson, who tried to choke back her grief.

“Here, we loved how we would light up when he talked and had the opportunity to be with the kids from our programs.

“He was such a good friend and mentor,” said Wilson.

101 Years of Robert E. Simon Jr.

1914: Robert E. Simon Jr. Born 1922: Robert E. Simon Jr.’s Grand Tour of Europe, School in Paris

1925: Robert Simon Jr.’s Father Purchases Carnegie Hall from Louise Carnegie

1931: Robert E. Simon Jr. Graduates from Horace Mann

1935: Robert E. Simon Jr. Graduates from Harvard

1935: Father, Robert E. Simon Sr. Dies 1942: Robert E. Simon Jr. Enlists in the U.S. Army

1946: Robert E. Simon Jr. Leaves U.S. Army as a Captain

1960: Robert E. Simon Jr. Sells Carnegie Hall to New York City for $5 million

1960: Robert E. Simon Jr. signs contract to purchase 6,750 acres of farmland and woods located between DC and the airport under construction (to be named Dulles)

1962: Fairfax County Board of Supervisors adopts Residential Planned Community Ordinance (RPC)

1964: Singer Electronics Laboratory and Air Survey Corporation open for business. First residents move in.

1964: Carnegie Hall Declared a National Historic Landmark

1966: Official dedication of Reston with presentations by Poet Laureate Steven Spender and NYC Parks Commissioner August Hecksher, interior Secretary Stuart Udall and representatives of 37 countries with “New Towns”

1967: Reston’s population grows to 2,500, but far short of projections. New financing from Gulf Oil resulted in Simon being forced out of the project, and he returned to New York.

1993: Robert E. Simon Jr. returns to Reston and move into condo on 13th floor of Heron House

1998: Robert E. Simon Jr. meets Cheryl Terio, his fourth wife

2002: Reston designated a National Planning Landmark

2004: The first Founder’s Day was celebrated on April 17, 2004, on Reston’s 40th Anniversary.

2015: Robert E. Simon Jr. dies at his home at Lake Anne in Reston on Sept. 21, 2015.

SOURCES: Robert E. Simon Jr.; Reston Museum Biography of Robert E. Simon Jr.; George Mason University Libraries; Reston Connection Archives.