Verne Simons came to Rice in 1929 to teach accounting and remained here for forty years. His high standards helped prepare generations of students for outstanding careers. When he retired the Chronicle ran a long piece about his commitment to teaching and the impact he had on this students:

Here he is receiving the award from the Alumni Association in 1969:

Professor Simons also took pictures.

Thanks to his son, Herbert Simons, I was able to make scans of some of his shots of the Rice campus. They are the best kind of pictures, I think, ones that let me see the campus in new ways and from a very definite perspective. Like a few other photographers I’ve come across in the archives, Mr. Simons’ personality comes through in his choices.

Just for fun I’ll start with this. I’ve seen plenty of images taken from this spot but never one like this, where the photographer crouched down and shot through the columns:

Bonus: Everything is getting cleaned up for commencement.