Sam Simon spendet seine Millionen

Todkranker "Simpsons"-Erfinder spendet seine Millionen



"Die Simpsons"-Miterfinder Sam Simon hat nicht mehr lange zu leben. Der Millionär will mit seinem Vermögen Gutes tun - davon profitieren unter anderem Chinchillas und Braunbären.

Sam Simon (59) ist ein schwerreicher Mann, leider ist er auch dem Tod geweiht. Einer der Miterfinder der legendären TV-Serie "Die Simpsons" ist unheilbar an Darmkrebs erkrankt. Seit dieser Diagnose nutzt er sein gesamtes Vermögen, um leidenden Tieren zu helfen. "Die Wahrheit ist: Ich habe mehr Geld, als ich Lust habe auszugeben. Für meine Familie ist gesorgt. Ich genieße das", verriet der Produzent bereits vor einem Jahr der US-Zeitung "The Hollywood Reporter".
Was ihn motiviert, beispielsweise Braunbären oder eine Chinchilla-Farm zu kaufen, um die Pelztiere zu befreien, das verriet der US-Amerikaner, der sich trotz nahendem Tod als "niemals glücklicher und endlich im Frieden" bezeichnet, jetzt in einem Interview mit Arnold Schwarzeneggers Noch-Ehefrau Maria Shriver für "NBC": "Es ist schön, Tiere zu beobachten, die ihr ganzes Leben in Betonbunkern verbrachten und jetzt endlich ihren ersten Schritt auf Gras machen konnten", so Simon laut "dailymail.co.uk".

Außerdem erklärte er, dass sein Arzt ihm 2012 nicht nur die Diagnose stellte, er habe auch gesagt, dass er ihn so lange wie möglich am Leben erhalten würde - bislang mit Erfolg!
Sam Simon verdient nach wie vor mehr als zehn Millionen Dollar im Jahr durch den Erfolg der gelben Zeichentrick-Figuren. Und das, obwohl er zusammen mit James L. Brooks und Matt Groening nur die ersten beiden Staffeln die Serie produziert hatte. 1993 stieg er aus, ließ sich aber die Rechte sichern. Und weil er zwar zwei Ex-Ehefrauen, aber keine Kinder hat, profitieren von seinem Vermögen nun Pelztiere und andere hilflose Geschöpfe.

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Video dazu:

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Oh wunderbar! Solche Menschen sollte es mehr geben.
Schade, dass er so krank ist. Hoffentlich hat er keine Schmerzen.

Das finde ich auch, Zoey! Er scheint wirklich in Ordnung zu sein! In dem Video kommt er ziemlich zuversichtlich und glücklich rüber - bewundernswert!

Sam Simon ist gestorben ... eine wirklich traurige Nachricht!


Miterfinder der "Simpsons" gestorben

Mit der gelben Comic-Familie kreierte er eine der erfolgreichsten Serien der Fernsehgeschichte. Jetzt ist Sam Simon im Alter von 59 Jahren seinem Krebsleiden erlegen.

10. März 2015  06:57 Uhr 

 
Der Miterfinder der US-Zeichentrickserie Die Simpsons, Sam Simon, ist im Alter von 59 Jahren gestorben. Simon, der die weltweit erfolgreiche Serie in den späten achtziger Jahren mit Matt Groening und James L. Brooks entwickelte, sei am Sonntag in seinem Haus in Los Angeles einem Krebsleiden erlegen, teilte ein Sprecher der Sendung mit. "Ein großer Mann. Ich verdanke ihm alles", schrieb sein Freund und Kollege Al Jean auf Twitter. Sein Tod sei ein "großer Verlust".



         @AlJean    

.@thesimpsons #everysimpsonsever If you would like to honor Sam's memory, do something nice for the next animal you meet. An enormous loss.
19:37 - 9 Mär 2015






Simon war 1993 aus der Produktion der Serie ausgestiegen, wird aber weiterhin als Produzent mit genannt. Die Abfindung, die er für die Comicserie erhielt, erlaubte ihm, sich fortan vorwiegend karitativen Tätigkeiten zu widmen, wie das Magazin Variety berichtete. Der mehrfache Emmy-Preisträger und Multimillionär gründete selbst eine Tierschutz-Stiftung, um Straßenhunde zu retten und sie als Assistenzhunde einzusetzen. Laut der Film- und Kinodatenbank IMDB belief sich die Abfindung auf jährlich zehn Millionen Dollar.




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Seine Stiftung:



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Noch ein paar Sachen, die ich gefunden habe:

Hommage von Paul Watson:

SAM SIMON
Kind Heart, Strong Heart, Loving Heart – A Man of Great Compassion.
Today we mourn the loss of a very compassionate, generous and courageous man.
Sam Simon was an artist, a Hollywood legend, and a true renaissance man.
He was our friend and benefactor, our inspiration and our hope.
Yesterday he lost his valiant ordeal in his fight against cancer.
During the Autumn of 2012, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He was given at the most, six months to live.
His reaction was incredible. He fought the cancer and survived for over another two years, but what was most incredible was that he made the time he had remaining truly meaningful by saving the lives and alleviating the suffering of thousands of animals.
He bought a chinchilla farm and financed a program to find homes for the animals he liberated from the cages. He supported Mercy for Animals, PETA, Sea Shepherd and many other causes.
Today the ship that bears his name the SAM SIMON left Mauritius after turning over reports and evidence to Interpol on the interception of the toothfish poaching ship THUNDER.
Sam’s donation of the ship contributed greatly to the success of the campaigns to defend whales from illegal Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
It was wonderful to have shared his last birthday with him and his many friends last June. What impressed me most at the time was his optimism and his kind heart.
Even though he was dying, he still managed to go to Taiji, Japan as a Cove Guardian. He took his doctor with him and it was not easy. Although his body was getting weaker, his heart remained amazingly strong.
He cared for those dolphins and he felt their pain and he shared the sadness of their horrific deaths.
He left a legacy with The Simpsons and other television shows he created. But I think his greatest legacy will be the lives he saved, the inspiration he provided, the leadership he demonstrated and the generous love he gave to the world.
We will miss him dearly and we will always remember Sam Simon for what he truly represented – the very best that can be expected from a truly great, generous and brave human being.
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Artikel in der New York Times:


Sam Simon, 59, Dies; Guided ‘The Simpsons,’ Then Shared His Profits


By WILLIAM YARDLEYMARCH 9, 2015

    
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 Sam Simon, far right, with from left, Matt Groening and James L. Brooks, with Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson in 1990.  Credit 20th Century Fox, via Everett Collection       
Sam Simon, who was one of the major creative forces behind “The Simpsons” and who left the show after its fourth season in a lucrative arrangement that allowed him to spend much of the rest of his life giving his money away, died on Sunday at his home in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. He was 59.

His death was confirmed by his agent, Andy Patman. Mr. Simon learned a few years ago that he had colon cancer.

The cartoonist Matt Groening, recruited by the producer James L. Brooks, invented the Simpson family for a series of short animated segments first seen on “The Tracey Ullman Show” in 1987. Mr. Groening named some of the characters after members of his own family, including Homer and Marge, the parents.

Although Mr. Groening is the person most closely associated with “The Simpsons,” Mr. Simon — who had published cartoons while he was a student at Stanford, worked on the cartoon show “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids” and been a writer and producer for the sitcoms “Cheers” and “Taxi” — played a crucial role as “The Simpsons” evolved into a half-hour series. It became the longest-running sitcom in television history.
       
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 Mr. Simon in August.  Credit Mike Blake/Reuters  
Mr. Simon helped populate Springfield, the fictional town where the Simpsons live, with a range of characters. He insisted that the show be created using some conventional sitcom techniques like having the writers work collectively. He had the voice actors read their parts as an ensemble, with the goal of giving the show more lifelike rhythm and timing. And he hired many of the show’s first writers, a number of whom gave him credit for informing its multilayered sensibility, one that skewers pieties with anarchic humor and sometimes vulgarity while celebrating family and community.

“If you leave out Sam Simon, you’re telling the managed version,” Jon Vitti, one of the show’s first writers, told The New York Times in 2001. “He was the guy we wrote for.”

Jay Kogen, a former producer of “The Simpsons,” told The Times that Mr. Simon “knew the freedom that animation provides and utilized it to the full extent.”

Mr. Groening, who was best known before “The Simpsons” for creating the syndicated comic strip “Life in Hell,” drew attention for his unusual career move into television animation. But Mr. Simon also had to change directions: He had to figure out how to make an unconventional product appeal to the mainstream audiences he had reached on “Taxi” and “Cheers.” He was surprised at how well it worked.

“There would be a few minutes where you’d have a parody of a Kubrick movie, and then you’d have Homer on the kitchen counter eating cake like a dog,” he told Stanford Magazine, a university publication, in 2009. “I thought some people would like some aspects of it, but I wasn’t sure how many would come along for the full ride. It turned out I was incredibly wrong. Homer is now the prototype for every male lead on a comedy show.”

Mr. Simon’s work on the show is also remembered for the way it ended. He and Mr. Groening clashed frequently — Mr. Groening was among several people, including Mr. Simon himself, who said that Mr. Simon could be difficult to work with — and Mr. Simon left in 1993, after four seasons.

It was not an amicable split, but it was extraordinarily profitable for Mr. Simon. He retained the title of executive producer and was given royalties from future home video sales. As “The Simpsons” moved into syndication and lucrative VHS and then DVD sales, it made Mr. Simon wealthy long after he was no longer directly involved in the show. He said in interviews that it provided him with “tens of millions” of dollars each year.

Mr. Simon angered Mr. Groening early on by expressing skepticism about the show’s prospects, suggesting that it would last only one season. But he later emphasized how fortunate he was to have been part of it. Not that he caught every episode after he left.

“If I had to watch it to cash my checks,” he said, “I would.”

Mr. Simon put his money toward his passions. He started a foundation that trained dogs to help disabled people, including veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he gave generously to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, among other groups. PETA’s headquarters in Norfolk, Va., was renamed the Sam Simon Center in 2013.

After Mr. Simon learned he had cancer, he announced his intention to give nearly all his “Simpsons” royalties to charity. “I’ve given most of it away,” he said in 2013 when asked about his wealth on the comedian Marc Maron’s podcast. “I won’t be rich again until we get our quarterly installment from ‘The Simpsons.’ ”

Mr. Simon was born on June 6, 1955, in the Los Angeles area, to Arthur and Joan Simon. His father owned a company that made discount clothing, his mother owned an art gallery, and Mr. Simon grew up comfortably in Beverly Hills, across the street from Groucho Marx and around the corner from Priscilla Presley.

He was recruited to play football at Stanford but quit after one day of practice. While he was a student there, he drew sports cartoons for The San Francisco Chronicle. He graduated in 1977.

Four years later, after he had worked as a storyboard artist and writer for Filmation Studios, he mailed an unsolicited script to the producers of “Taxi.” They accepted and produced his script, and by the following year, Mr. Simon had become one of the show’s main writers. He was soon writing and producing for several other shows, including “Cheers.”

After he left “The Simpsons,” Mr. Simon helped develop other series, including the short-lived program “The George Carlin Show” and the “The Drew Carey Show,” which enjoyed a long run. He also became a competitive poker player and hosted a program on Playboy TV featuring celebrities playing Texas hold ’em. He was a frequent guest on Howard Stern’s radio show. He was recently a consultant on the Charlie Sheen sitcom “Anger Management.”

In 1997, he entered a different arena entirely when he began managing the boxer Lamon Brewster. In 2004, Mr. Brewster won the World Boxing Organization heavyweight championship.

Mr. Simon’s marriage to the actress and competitive poker player Jennifer Tilly ended in divorce, but the two remained close. A brief marriage to Jami Ferrell, a Playboy model, also ended in divorce. Information about survivors was not immediately available.

One beneficiary of his philanthropy, the Sea Shepherd Society, which opposes whale hunting, named one of its boats for Mr. Simon. (Others are also named for celebrity supporters.) In 2011, his Sam Simon Foundation started a program that provides low-income families with free vegan meals.

Asked whether he was imposing his own vegan diet on those his charity served, Mr. Simon said: “They can eat all the meat they want. I’m just not going to pay for it.”
 

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