Being the son of a prominent mathematician and a university archivist, Simon grew up under the weight of certain expectations. His parents, both esteemed within their respective fields, demanded the same brilliance from their son and expected nothing short of perfection. Despite this, they remained largely distant throughout his childhood. Praise was scarce, and achievement was treated less as something to celebrate than something simply expected of him.
When Simon completed his doctorate, he was offered a position at Princeton University. To his parents, accepting it was the obvious next step, and perhaps the final confirmation that he had become exactly what they had always expected him to be. But Simon refused.
The decision thoroughly angered them. There was certainly an element of spite involved, but more than anything, Simon wanted to make his own way, free from the path his parents had spent his entire life laying out for him. Given the opportunity to leave and build a life that belonged entirely to him, he took it without question.