Background
Simson was born in Danbury, Connecticut.
Simson was born in Danbury, Connecticut.
He studied under Aaron Burr, attended Columbia University in New York City, and graduated in 1800 with a degree in law, becoming one of the first Jewish lawyers in New York City.
After a few years practice, however, Simson abandoned his law career and retired to his Yonkers farm to devote himself to charitable work. In 1852, Simson, along with eight other men representing various Hebrew charitable organizations, came together to establish the "Jew"s Hospital", the institution that eventually (in 1866) became Mount Sinai Hospital. Its location, West 28th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues in New York City, was on land donated by Simson.
He served the first President of its Board of Directors and personally assumed many of the young hospital"s financial burdens.
"The Jew"s Hospital" opened two years before his death. That same year, Simson joined Samuel Myer Isaacs and Adolphus Simeon Solomons to help found the Beth Hamedrash Hagodol.
Simson"s estate bequeathed large sums of money to Jewish and general institutions, including $50,000 that, after the death of a nephew, should be paid "to any responsible corporation in this city whose permanent fund is established by its charter for the purpose of ameliorating the condition of the Jews in Jerusalem, Palestine." In 1888, the New York State Supreme Court decided that the sum, plus thirty years" interest, was to be paid to the North American Relief Society for Indigent Jews in Jerusalem. Mount Sinai Hospital was recently ranked as one of the best hospitals in the United States by United States. News & World Report.