Gertrude Evelyn Ginsburg Simon

Gertrude Simon, 89, wife of J. Daniel Simon of Mt. Pleasant, SC, and formerly of Seabrook Island, passed away on Monday, September 19, 2011.

The relatives and friends of Gert Simon are invited to attend her Memorial Service on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 in J. HENRY STUHR MOUNT PLEASANT CHAPEL at 10:30 am.  Burial will be private. The family will greet friends following the service. 

Mrs. Simon was born on March 2, 1922 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, daughter of Julius and Sarah Ginsburg. She was both an artist and an educator. As an artist her preferred medium was paper.  She made her paper by hand, with pulp and water, using an ancient Chinese technique invented 2,000 years ago.  She was one of the earliest handmade papermakers in Charleston's art community. 

Mrs. Simon and her husband, Dan, moved to Seabrook Island in 1986 from northern New Jersey.  There, Gert had been active in the arts, both as an artist and a teacher at the public school and college level.  After coming to Seabrook Island, Mrs. Simon served for a number of years as an artist in residence at school districts around the state for the South Carolina Arts Commission.  Later, she taught papermaking and related subjects as a long time member of the Gibbes Museum Studio faculty in Charleston.  She was very prolific, producing a large body of work.  Her art was exhibited widely and today, much of it resides in private, corporate, and public collections in the South as well as the New York-New Jersey area and abroad.  In Charleston, she was represented by Nina Liu and Friends Gallery, where some of her work is still exhibited. 

On Seabrook Island, Gert, was a active member of the Garden Club; co-founder of the Southern Literature Book Club; and an early co-chair of the Natural History Group.  Gert instituted the annual Soup Supper at Seabrook Island, now a time honored tradition, which she imported from her former home community in Closter, New Jersey. 

She is survived by her husband, Dan of Mt. Pleasant, SC; a son, Jed Simon of Missoula, MT; a son, Tom Simon, his wife, Jeanne, and one granddaughter, Nell of Hastings-On-Hudson, NY; a daughter, Jennifer Tsonas and her husband, James, of Guttenberg, NJ.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials may be made to Hospice of Charleston Foundation, 676 Wando Park Blvd., Mt. Pleasant, SC  29464.