James Robert Simms

James R. “Bud” Simms, age 96, of Fulton, MD passed away peacefully on Saturday, May 22, 2021.

He was born December 5, 1924, in Vinita, Oklahoma, son to the late Paul Otto and Meda (Hall) Simms. He is predeceased by a sister, Pauline (Simms) Poe and a brother, Thomas F. Simms.

Jim spent his early years in Oklahoma, graduated from Vinita High School and was drafted into the U.S. Navy in 1943. He served his country for three years during WWII and participated in the Invasion of Guam. After being discharged from the Navy, Jim attended the University of Oklahoma where he earned a BS in Engineering Physics in 1950. After graduating, he started his career by taking a job with the Glen L. Martin Company in Baltimore, MD where he worked as an engineer on several guided missile systems. In 1956, Jim moved to Littleton, CO to work on the Titan Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) at the Martin Co. He moved back to Hagerstown, MD in 1961 to work for Fairchild Aircraft’s missile division. In 1963, he worked on the world’s first satellite communication system at ITT Intelcom in VA. He joined General Electric Co. in 1971 as the manager of the Earth Resources Technology System (ERTS) Data Processing Facility. Jim also worked for Systems Research Corporation in VA and Booz Allen & Hamilton in Bethesda, MD. In 1983, he founded his own company, Simms Industries, Inc., which developed computer based training centers and weapons systems.

Until his death, Jim was in the 2% of surviving WWII veterans. He was a proud member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. He was an active member of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS). Later in his life, he became a member of the Laurel American Legion Post 60. He also had a great love of flying airplanes and obtained a pilot’s license at age 60. He was a member of the United Flying Octogenarian’s (UFO) and was still flying his own planes at age 91. Jim’s hobbies included traveling the world and dancing. In 2018, Jim was named a top achiever in the world by Marquis Who’s Who. He has published three books — “A Measure of Knowledge”; “The Limits of Behavior: A Quantitative Social Theory” and “Principles of Quantitative Living Systems Science” and has contributed numerous papers and articles to professional journals. He is a patent holder and inventor of a mobile security system and co-inventor of a missile guidance system.

Jim is survived by Edie Gillis, his co-pilot, traveling companion, and dance partner of 16 years from Pasadena, MD; his daughter, Suzanne Johnson and husband Terry of Raleigh, NC; grandson Patrick Johnson; granddaughters Cassandra Marshall and Kara Johnson; great grandsons Colin and Owen Marshall; brother Charles Simms of Ridge, MD; sister Ida Lundy of Vinita, OK; and numerous nieces and nephews.

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