A gift from Cynthia L. Stewart Simon and William E. Simon Jr. in honor of the couple’s 25th wedding anniversary has been used by the Jacobs School of Music to create Anniversary Plaza in front of its East Studio Building which features include a commissioned sculpture by Donald Gummer.
Gummer is an alumnus of the Herron School of Art and Design at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and the husband of actress Meryl Streep, who received an honorary doctoral degree from IU in April 2014.
Cynthia Simon, who earned her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology degree in 1977 from the IU College of Arts and Sciences, comes from a long line of IU alumni and has always been interested in campus beautification.
The Simons have a storied tradition of philanthropy at IU and beyond. In 1993, the Glen D. and Dorothy E. Stewart Family Scholarship, in memory of Cynthia Simon’s parents, was established in the IU College of Arts and Sciences Sociology Department. The Dorothy Elizabeth Lowe Stewart Memorial Scholarship at the IU School of Education, in honor of Stewart Simon’s mother, was completed in 2010. In 2011, the Cynthia L. and William E. Simon Jr. Art Acquisition Fund was created at the IU Art Museum. All gifts are administered by the IU Foundation.