About the Author

Ron Simon was born in Los Angeles in 1934. He is the son of immigrants who escaped the virulent anti-Semitism that engulfed their native countries in Europe. At age twenty-five, he took over and then turned around Perma-Bilt, the troubled business his dad founded in 1949. In a dramatic corporate twist, im- mediately after he sold controlling interest, the new majority stakeholders threw Simon out of the company in 1987. Two years later, Simon founded RSI Home Products. In a case of sweet revenge, Simon overcame betrayal, and RSI put Perma-Bilt out of business and quickly overtook its competitors. His entrepreneurial success and commitment to philanthropy inspired him to start the Simon Scholars program in 2002, whose mission is to give scholarships to disadvantaged and underserved young people. For his accomplishments and contributions to society, Simon received the Horatio Alger Award in 2005. Unable to ignore his intrepid entrepreneurial vision and drive, he founded RSI Construction in 2007. Seven years later, Simon built RSI Communities. In 2018, he sold the company to William Lyon Homes for just under five hundred million dollars. Simon lives in Newport Beach, California.