LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Paul Simon: Queens College
built 118 days ago
Simon, the son of a Lutheran minister who was a missionary to China, was born in Eugene, Oregon shortly after his parents were forced back to America following a controversy about what the appropriate Chinese term for God should be. He attended the University of Oregon and Dana College in Blair, Nebraska, but never graduated. After meeting with local Lions Club members, he borrowed $3,600 to take over the defunct Troy Call newspaper in 1948, becoming the nations' youngest editor-publisher of the renamed Troy Tribune in Troy, Madison County, Illinois, eventually building a chain of fourteen weeklies. His activism against gambling, prostitution, and government corruption while at the Troy Tribune forced the newly-elected governor, Adlai Stevenson, to take a stand on these issues, creating national exposure for Simon that later resulted in his testifying before the Kefauver Commission.[2]
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At age 19, Simon became the youngest editor-publisher in America. In 1948 he dropped out of college to purchase the Troy Tribune, a defunct weekly newspaper in a small southern Illinois town. He resurrected the paper and before long he made his reputation as a crusading journalist by exposing vice and syndicate gambling connections with local government officials. Simon eventually built a chain of 14 weekly newspapers. He sold them in 1966 to devote full time to public service, teaching, and writing.
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Mr. Simon grew up in Queens, and graduated from Queens College in 1965. He has received twelve Grammy awards and various other music-related honors. MusiCares honored him recently with their 2001 Person of the Year Award, and on March 21, 2001, Paul Simon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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An avowed social liberal, Simon spent his career denouncing racism, supporting women's rights, and encouraging equality for racial and ethnic minorities. He was a fiscal conservative who described himself as "a pay-as-you-go Democrat." As a senator, he overhauled the college student loan program to allow students and their families to borrow directly from the federal government... saving money by not using private banks to disperse the loans.[6]
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Simon grew up in Eugene and entered the University of Oregon at age 16 to study journalism. In 1946 he transferred to Dana College in Blair, Nebraska, after his parents moved to Illinois to publish a religious periodical.
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