Sheldon W Simon

Sheldon Weiss Simon was born in St. Paul Minnesota on January 31, 1937. From that day forward, he detested cold weather, and he was very delighted to move to Arizona in 1975. As a youngster in Minnesota, Shell was always at the top of his class academically and by the time he was in high school, he found that he loved performing in musical theater. By college age, he was not only striving for academic excellence at the University of Minnesota but also studying vocal performance and appearing in university musicals. Upon graduation, he began his master’s degree at the Woodrow Wilson School of International Studies at Princeton University with the thought of entering the foreign service upon graduation. Instead, he accepted an offer from the University of Minnesota to return for doctoral studies in political science. It was at this transition point that he met Charlann Scheid in Cripple Creek, Colorado where they were cast members in the Imperial Hotel’s melodrama theater. Sheldon and Charlann were cast opposite each other for 158 performances of the same play. Sheldon was the “resident brain” who never forgot anything he had learned. We thought we could “get him” on a ballet question, but one of his humanities professors at UofM was a ballet enthusiast who had imparted this minute detail. We all had a good laugh and gave up on our quest.

After that summer in CO, Sheldon headed to Minneapolis and UofM to begin his PhD program in political science. Never leaving theater far behind, he was cast in several musicals, including one on the Showboat. He and Charlann kept the railroad in business as they commuted between the Twin Cities and Evanston, IL where she was in her senior year at Northwestern University. They decided this was a serious relationship and by April were engaged. Sheldon never forgot stepping off the plane in an Arizona December to meet the Charlann’s parents. Why live in the snow??? After her graduation, Charlann moved to Minneapolis to teach in a junior high as Sheldon was finishing his second year of doctoral studies. They were married in April in the ASU Chapel and returned by car to the Twin Cities. Outside the city limits, Sheldon noticed a new musical theater opening in the summer. He arranged for an audition with the UofM directors (whom he knew from earlier shows they had cast him in). That summer, the newly wed thespians were once again on the stage together. They earned enough money to pay for two round trip boat tickets to Europe where Sheldon had been invited to do his doctoral dissertation research at the Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. This was also a wonderfully central location in Europe for travel, and they took full advantage. They even won a cruise in the Mediterranean, but it came with the stipulation that they had to sleep in the crew’s quarters. No problem!

Sheldon decided he wanted to join the Kennedy administration, so he accepted a position with the CIA as a political analyst. They arrived in DC August, 1963. President Kennedy was assassinated that November. Like so many others, Sheldon and Charlann stood on Pennsylvania Ave and grieved as the funeral cortège passed. Thereafter, being a government employee didn’t have the same draw for Sheldon. He was also teaching classes at GW in the evening and found he enjoyed that more. During the three years in DC, Sheldon was also active in musical theater. Political Science and musical theater were intertwined throughout his life.

He decided to transition to academia in the fall of 1966 and accepted a position in the political science department at the University of Kentucky. When he had gone for his interview, he also met with the theater department to ask about opportunities to be cast in their productions. Going to KY from DC was an abrupt shift culturally for Sheldon but he loved his UK colleagues. He began his active publishing career while teaching UK students. To him, research and teaching were of equal importance. At the end of that first academic year, Sheldon became a father to son, Alex. There is a wonderful photo of Sheldon sitting back in an easy chair holding a book reading with Alex stretched out on his chest. While in Kentucky, Sheldon applied for and won a grant from the National Humanities Council to put on musical theater shows for rural Kentucky communities. He was active in theater and political science research his entire life.

In 1975, Sheldon accepted an offer from the ASU Political Science Department to become chairman of the department. At last, he could look forward to being in a location without snow. He served his four years in this administrative role and decided he would never do anything like that again. He enjoyed teaching undergraduate lecture courses and nourishing graduate students who would become the next generation of political science professionals. Research and publication were always a driving force in his life, so it is not surprising that he has several scores of journal articles, book chapters, and many books listed on his vita. Sheldon was also in a number of musical theater productions, including playing the lead role of John Adams in Phoenix Theater’s 1976 production of the musical 1776.

Beginning in 2000, Sheldon became a cruise lecturer in the summer and on holiday breaks at the university. He loved the interactions with guests and both he and Charlann enjoyed all of the opportunities to visit Asia, Alaska, Australia, South America, Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Baltic area.

In learning of his passing on January 2nd, due to a bout with Covid, letters from Sheldon’s many graduate students have praised his guidance and his scholarship. He was equally praised in student evals from his undergrads as being an excellent lecturer and being very approachable. Sheldon published over 200 research articles and books during his career. He was the consummate academic. And as all of his students, colleagues, and friends have said, “Sheldon was a gentleman and a scholar.”