James Simons, Ph.D.

James “Jim” Simons is an American hedge fund manager, a mathematician and a philanthropist who has found the right formula for success on many levels. His multi-billion-dollar fund, Renaissance Technologies, which is based in New York, has gone stratospheric, lifting him to No. 82 on the Forbes 2012 World’s Billionaires List, with a net worth of $10.7 billion. That sum, which is not chump change by any means, makes this East Setauket resident the richest Long Islander. Not bad for the former chairman of the math department at Stony Brook University who earned his degrees at MIT and the University of California, Berkeley. He still chairs the Stony Brook Foundation, which is dedicated to advancing “the mission and goals” of Stony Brook through philanthropic gifts and grants. Thanks to his intervention, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at the Brookhaven National Laboratory—which was about to be shorted by the U.S. Energy Department—got an influx of cash to keep on doing its cutting-edge research. He’s also been a big backer of Democratic candidates, Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) in particular, as well as a donor to “Majority PAC,” whose aim is to maintain a U.S. Senate Democratic majority. So, whether it’s probing physics, promoting math literacy (he founded Math for America) or encouraging autism research, Simons has had a huge impact putting his fortune to work.

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2012