Trivia

Once co-hosted Saturday Night Live (1975) with music legend and same-named Paul Simon.

U.S. Senator 1985-1997

U.S. Senator from Illinois - Democratic Party.

His first wife, Jeanne Hurley, was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1956. When she and Simon, a Representative from Troy, married in 1960, they became the first husband-wife team in the history of the Illinois General Assembly. His widow, Patricia, is the widow of former Southern Illinois University president David Derge.

In 1962, when he first ran for the Illinois State Senate, he managed to secure an editorial endorsement from the Saint Louis Globe-Democrat. The piece was written by another future political celebrity--commentator and frequent presidential candidate, Patrick Buchanan.

Was a professor at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale for several years.

U.S. Representative from Illinois (1975-1985).

Lieutenant Governor of Illinois (1969-1973).

Winner of the 1999 Richard Nelson Current Award of Achievement, awarded annually by the Lincoln Forum.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 514-516. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007.