Obituary: Harold Simmons, Billionaire Tycoon and Top Dallas Donor
January 2, 2014 | Read Time: 1 minute
Harold Simmons, a billionaire Texas industrialist and Republican campaign donor who also contributed to causes associated with the left along with supporting health care, higher education, and the arts, died Saturday at age 82, reports The Dallas Morning News.
Mr. Simmons appeared three times on The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Philanthropy 50 list of top annual donors, most recently for 2010. The following year he signed the Giving Pledge, promising half of his fortune to charity.
The head of the Contran Corporation, which owns numerous companies across several industries, Mr. Simmons was a leading donor to Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, but his foundation has also given to Planned Parenthood and an anti-death-penalty group. He donated hundreds of millions of dollars to Texas hospitals, including nearly $200-million to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
