The world loses another billionaire: Harold Simmons dies at 82

Harold Clark Simmons (May 13, 1931 – December 28, 2013) was an American philanthropist and billionaire worth over $10 billion. He had been in intensive care for the past eight days prior to his death. He lived in Dallas, Texas. Simmons has BA (1951) and MA (1952) degrees in economics from the University of Texas. After completing graduate school in 1952, Simmons worked for the government as a bank examiner, then for Republic National Bank. He started his empire in 1960, using $5,000 of his savings, and a $95,000 loan, he bought a small drugstore, University Pharmacy. He grew the store into a chain of 100 stores and sold it for $50 million in 1973. Simmons was a great philanthropist. In 2007, Oprah Winfrey announced that Simmons, her neighbor in Montecito, California, had contributed $5 million to her Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. Since July 2006, Simmons has given funds to chronic kidney disease research. He also made a donation of $5 million to the Dallas Zoo, the largest single private contribution in the zoo's 120 year history. Simmons was married three times.