99 Candles: Bob Simon Celebrates Near-Century, Remains Awesome

Reston founder Robert E. Simon turned 99 today, which is pretty amazing. In many ways, he looks as good as, if not better than the community he founded (which turns 49 today). He celebrated the eve of his birthday by attending the RA annual members meeting last night, which is more than most of us who are (at least, sort of) a half-century younger could bring ourselves to do.

What's interesting in looking back at this fancy interview he conducted on the occasion of his 95th birthday, along with his recipe for long life (one martini and one walk a day), is how prescient he's been about the challenges of making Reston not become a clone of Ballston on one extreme or Ashburn on the other work:

It’s difficult to overcome the culture that we live in. It’s a culture where a state-of-the-art bathroom and kitchen are what one needs, plus enough square footage to show everyone that one could afford it. We’ve gone a couple centuries without understanding community. It’s too bad that it’s so hard to communicate what pleasure one gets from living with one’s fellow human being.

Happy birthday, Mr. Simon.