Reston After graduating from
Harvard University, Simon took over the family
real estate management and development business. In 1961, with the proceeds from the sale of a family property,
Carnegie Hall, Simon purchased 6,750 acres (27 km2) of land in
Fairfax County, Virginia and hired Conklin +
Rossant to develop a master plan for the new town of
Reston, Virginia, a
planned community well known on the national level. (The town's name was derived from Simon's initials and the word "town".) Simon's
new town concept emphasized quality of life for the individual and provided a community where people could live, work, and play without driving long distances. Simon returned to live in an apartment near
Lake Anne in Reston in 1993 In that same year a
bronze statue of Simon was placed on a park bench in Washington Plaza on Lake Anne, the original heart of the community he built. A collection of Simon's donated materials is housed at the Special Collections Research Center at the
George Mason University Libraries. ==Personal life==