- Born
- Died
- Melvin Simon started his career as one of the head executives at Columbia Pictures. In 1967 he founded a joint venture and independent motion picture and television company, AVCO Embassy Pictures, as a sister company to Columbia. Simon was the head executive producer and president for AVCO Embassy and produced a number of films through the 1970s and 1980s. Upon the collapse of AVCO Embassy in 1982, Simon sold it to television producer Norman Lear and Lear changed the name to Embassy Entertainment. Simon now works as one of the head associates for Columbia Pictures.- IMDb Mini Biography By: A. Nonymous
- Mel Simon was born in 1926 in the Bronx, New York, the son of a tailor. He earned an accounting degree in 1949 from City College in New York and later an MBA focusing on real estate. After being stationed at Fort Benjamin Harrison in the 1950s, he moved to nearby Indianapolis, Indiana after his service. In 1960, he and younger brother Herbert got into the real estate business forming Melvin Simons & Associates. They developed strip malls containing a pharmacy or grocery store into major shopping malls. Their pinnacle of their projects was in 1992 when they opened the Mall of America near Minneapolis. In the 1980s, he got into the motion picture business as a producer of a number of films including "Porky's" in 1982. Simon was amazed when the film became a hit. But he also produced some that did not fare well such as the George Hamilton farce "The Gay Blade" in . In a 2002 interview with The Indianapolis Star, Simon said "I did about 25 movies and I got out of it, thank God -- it didn't cost me any money ultimately. It was a good lesson, and I wouldn't do it again." Simon passed away September 15, 2009 in Indianapolis following a brief illness.- IMDb Mini Biography By: D.K. Sullivan
- SpousesBren Burns(1969 - September 16, 2009) (his death)Bess Meshulam (divorced)
- His company, Simon Property Group, has full or partial ownership of more than 300 shopping malls in the United States, Europe, and Japan.
- Co-owned the NBA's Indiana Pacers with his brother.
- Said to have been "absolutely flabbergasted" when Porky's (1981) became a smash hit.
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