Robert E. Simon Jr., Who Created a Town, Reston, Va., Dies at 101At a time when millions were fleeing crowded cities for what some sociologists called a colorless life in suburbia, Mr. Simon envisioned a Northern Virginia community that blended the serenity of an Italian hill town, the urban attractions of San Francisco?s Embarcadero and the social equality of a utopia in Finland.
Mr. Simon celebrated his 100th birthday and Reston its 50th year in 2014. He was still remarkably active, attending celebratory events, walking about and chatting with friends. Nearly everyone in Reston knew him as Bob.
By then, it was a city of 60,000, a racially integrated, economically diverse mix of urban and suburban lifestyles, with high-rise apartment buildings, town houses and single-family homes; youth and senior centers; swimming pools; tennis courts; woodland paths; lakeside shops; industries and businesses.
In 2012, CNN Money magazine ranked Reston seventh on its annual ?Best Places to Live in America? list. ?It?s pretty close to what I had hoped it would be,? Mr. Simon said.
