詹姆斯·西蒙斯为人低调: (quoted from wikipedia)
"Simons shuns the limelight and rarely gives interviews, citing Benjamin the Donkey in 'Animal Farm' for explanation: "God gave me a tail to keep off the flies. But I'd rather have had no tail and no flies.""
His legacy on Philanthropy:
"Simons and his second wife, Marilyn Hawrys Simons, co-founded the Simons Foundation, a charitable organization that supports projects related to education and health, in addition to scientific research. In memory of his son Paul, whom he had with his first wife, Barbara Simons, he established Avalon Park, a 130-acre (0.53 km2) nature preserve in Stony Brook. In 1996, 34-year-old Paul was killed by a car while riding a bicycle near the Simons home. Another son, Nick Simons, drowned at age 24 while on a trip to Bali in Indonesia in 2003. Nick had worked in Nepal and the Simons have become large donors to Nepalese healthcare through the Nick Simons Institute.
Also in 2006, Simons donated 25 million to Stony Brook University through the Stony Brook Foundation. The gift is intended to benefit the Mathematics and Physics departments at the university.
On February 27, 2008, then Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced a $60 million donation by the Simons Foundation to found the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics at Stony Brook, the largest gift to a public university in New York state history."