(Updated at 2 p.m.) Flowers, candles and cards were placed at the statue of Bob Simon at Lake Anne Plaza to honor the Reston founder who passed away yesterday.

Simon died peacefully at his home in Reston. He was 101.

An outpouring of support and condolences flooded RestonNow comments, Twitter and Facebook, with news of his passing picked up on Facebook’s national trends. Multiple people stopped by his statue on Tuesday morning to take pictures of the statue, say their goodbyes and share memories of seeing Simon around Lake Anne Plaza and Reston.

“I think the first time I spoke to him, he was riding a bicycle — an indoor bicycle at Sport and Health [gym] in Reston,” said Nancy Busse, a Reston resident since 1970.

Simon cared about the community and she enjoyed seeing him walking around the plaza, Busse said.

“He still was invested in this community right up until he died,” she said. “Pretty extraordinary.

Other Reston residents agreed, many also commenting on how he lived a good 101 years.

“He gave me a good life,” said one Reston resident who has lived in the area since 1980.

Flowers began appearing on Simon’s statue last night, despite the evening rain. Among the flowers were cards for his family, candles and a martini glass from Mayor of Herndon Lisa Merkel.

“I brought him a martini glass with flowers because he was known for his martinis,” Merkel said. “He said the secret of life is one martini a night.”

Merkel first met Simon after being elected mayor of Herndon. Simon and Merkel would meet for breakfast and were working on on a project together when he died, she said.

“The first time we got breakfast, he wanted to take me to Lake Anne Plaza, and we walked all around and he told me about the whole process. It was like walking around with a legend,” Merkel said.

The news of Simon’s death spread quickly yesterday, with articles appearing in local and national papers, including the Washington Post and New York Times. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe took to Twitter to share his condolences.

“Saddened by the passing of Reston founder Bob Simon. He was a true visionary and entrepreneur of his time,” McAuliffe said.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) also used social media to share his memories with Simon, releasing statements on Twitter and Facebook.

“In Bob Simon, Virginia has lost a visionary who recognized all humans ought to be able to live together and be neighbors. I was honored to celebrate his 100th birthday in Reston last year and I know his legacy will live on in the community he created and loved. My thoughts and prayers are with his family,” Kaine said on Facebook.

Simon was innovative in creating Reston, said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) in statement, adding that Simon’s creation of the first racially integrated housing development in Virginia made him a “civil rights pioneer.”

“The Northern Virginia region owes much of its character and success to Bob. I feel this loss sharply and shall miss his dedication, his laugh and his friendship. A local giant is gone from our midst,” Connolly said.

A candlelight vigil will be held on Friday, Sept. 25, at 6:45 p.m. in Lake Anne Plaza. The first 300 people to attend will receive a vigil candle, according to Kat Toussaint of Around Reston Publications.

When I first met Robert E. Simon, who died Monday at age 101, I was quite intimidated.

I had lived in Reston for 13 years by that time, and of course had heard the legend of Mr. Simon. With his Pete Seeger-style fisherman’s cap and his white goatee, he was a popular yet nearly mythical figure around town.

I had just left my longtime newspaper job and gone to work for AOL, which was starting a network of hyperlocal news sites. As the founder of Reston Patch, it was on me to know all things Reston. Starting with Mr. Simon.

We met at the Lake Anne Coffee House that day in spring 2010. I brought my friend Justine with me because I was kind of scared. We talked about all those things Reston — what he liked, what he didn’t like, whether it turned out the way he planned. He admonished me when I called the Reston Association trail crossings tunnels.

“They are underpasses!” he said, thumping his cane on the ground.

OK, underpasses it is. I never made that mistake again.

Over the years, I came to consider Mr. Simon — I still called him Mr. Simon even though he would constantly correct me and say “Please call me Bob” — a friend and the most interesting man in Reston. Maybe Virginia. I’m not going to say in the world. I don’t know everyone in the world.

After watching my parents — young enough to be Bob Simon’s children — slowly die over the last few years, I came to think Simon just might outlive us all. When we first met in 2010, he said one of his regrets was he would not live to see Metro come to Reston. Even with a whole bunch of Silver Line delays, he rode it the first day — and danced on the Reston Station Plaza.

I would sometimes see Bob out several times a week — a Reston Association meeting one night; a reception the next; speaking before the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors one day; then holding court at one his favorite Lake Anne restaurants.

Much like how they used to ID another legend, Joe DiMaggio, as “the greatest living baseball player,” at events in DiMaggio’s later years, Simon was always given a shoutout. He seemed to love the role as elder statesman. He would stand and wave when introduced, perhaps doffing his fisherman’s cap. Always with a big smile.

He started using a walker about a year ago. But his mind was as sharp as ever. In June, he stood up and told the RA Board to, let’s use a euphemism, grow a pair.

Said Simon:

“For the past several years, Reston has been run by the NIMBYs (“Not In My Backyard”),” Simon said, recalling issues such as a tennis facility at Lake Newport and the more recent bocce court proposed for a pocket park off of South Lakes Drive.

“This is why I am here — to strengthen your resolve, all the way up to the [Fairfax County] Board of Supervisors. A lot of attention is paid to the naysayers. It is a bloody fact when an issue comes up, people in favor stay home and NIMBYS come out to holler. A good NIMBY knows first thing you holler is traffic. It takes sophisticated analysis to know whether it will affect traffic. But that is what they use to terrify the board.”

He called me in early July to set up lunch to make sure I got things right when I wrote about Reston’s history. He penned our lunch date down in his red book. Everything went in the red book.

I met him promptly at noon — we went to the friendly hug hello years ago — in the lobby of Heron House and strolled across Lake Anne Plaza to Cafe Montmartre, one of his hangouts.

“How did you get into this business?” Bob asked me. “How do you make money at Reston Now? How many readers do you have?”

Bob ordered a gin Bloody Mary. It’s noon on a Tuesday and I am not a big drinker, but one does as Mr. Simon does. Make mine with vodka. Read More

Reston founder Robert E. Simon Jr., whose idea of a “new town” community in the Virginia countryside evolved into one of the Washington area’s premier residential and business centers, died peacefully at his home in Reston Monday. He was 101.

Simon was an active figure in Reston even as he passed the century mark in the spring of 2014. He could be seen taking a daily walk around Lake Anne Plaza and attending various Reston community meetings and social events. He said the secret to his longevity was a daily nap and a daily gin martini.

If you said “How are you, Bob?” as a greeting, he would answer emphatically “I am healthy! And you?”

Robert E. Simon was born April 10, 1914 in New York City, the youngest of four children and the only boy. He attended Horace Mann School in Manhattan and in Riverdale, N.Y. and later Harvard University. He served in World War II, attending officer’s candidate school, learning to strip jeeps and procuring recreational equipment for army bases. He spent time in Paris and Belgium during his service.

“It was one of the happiest times of my life,” Simon told Reston Now in July. “I had enormous amounts of responsibility but didn’t have to make decisions.”

After the death of this father in the 1930s, Simon joined the family real estate business, which counted Carnegie Hall among its New York holdings. With $12.8 million in proceeds of that sale, Simon purchased 6,750 acres of farmland in Western Fairfax County in 1961.

What was eventually built was Reston, drawing from Simon’s initials, RES.

“The project was really out of my area, but it seemed such a marvelous opportunity,” Simon said in a 1966 speech. “The location was perfect. The foundations were just being laid for the magnificent Dulles Airport terminal building and construction crews were scratching away at the runways. An airport like that in what seems like a desert will cause the desert to flower. And Dulles Airport was being put into Fairfax County, then the single, fastest-growing county in the United States. It was an irresistible challenge, so I didn’t resist.”

Simon envisioned the new town as a planned community where one can work, live and play without having to travel great distances. He hired the design firm of Conklin + Rossant to plan the community with these principles in mind:

That the widest choice of opportunities be made available for the full use of leisure time. This means that the New Town should provide a wide range of cultural and recreational facilities as well as an environment for privacy.

That it be possible for anyone to remain in a single neighborhood throughout his life, uprooting being neither inevitable nor always desirable. By providing the fullest range of housing styles and prices — from high-rise efficiencies to six-bedroom townhouses and detached houses — housing needs can be met at a variety of income levels and at different stages of family life. This kind of mixture permits residents to remain rooted in the community if they so choose — as their particular housing needs change. As a by-product, this also results in the heterogeneity that spells a lively and varied community.

That the importance and dignity of each individual be the focal point for all planning, and take precedence for large-scale concepts.

That the people be able to live and work in the same community.

That commercial, cultural and recreational facilities be made available to the residents from the outset of the development — not years later.

That beauty — structural and natural — is a necessity of the good life and should be fostered.

Since Reston is being developed from private enterprise, in order to be completed as conceived it must also, of course, be a financial success.

By 1964, Simon’s vision of an Italian style piazza with Scandinavian style design took shape at Lake Anne Village Center. Soon after, single-family homes near Hunters Woods Village Center were for sale.  Families with the pioneer spirit – after all, the future Reston Parkway was still an unpaved road — moved into the new homes.

Simon’s vision of an inclusive place — in the American South no less — was radical for its time.

“In 1964, when Reston opened, discrimination was rampant and legal,” Sen. Tim Kaine said at Simon’s 100th birthday celebration. “It wasn’t until 1968 that the federal Fair Housing Act was passed. It wasn’t until 1971 that the Virginia General Assembly passed the South’s first fair housing law. Bob [Simon] was a real visionary.

“When we look at Virginia history since World War II, Bob should be one of the five or six individuals [we talk about]. Bob took a state that was facing backward and turned it facing forward.”

The contemporary designs and innovative vision were not an easy sell for some Northern Virginia homebuyers, though. Eventually, the project ran into financial trouble. Gulf Oil took over the Reston project and by 1967, Simon was out of a job and returned to New York.

“A Gulf consultant took one look at my desk and my chair and said ‘we are going to want to see you hanging by your fingernails,’ ” Simon recalled. Read More

Reston founder Bob Simon told the Reston Association Board last week that they should stop listening to residents who decry traffic, expense and other issues that get in the way of progress here.

“For the past several years, Reston has been run by the NIMBYs (“Not In My Backyard”),” Simon said, recalling issues such as a tennis facility at Lake Newport and the more recent bocce court proposed for a pocket park off of South Lakes Drive.

“This is why I am here — to strengthen your resolve, all the way up to the [Fairfax County] Board of Supervisors,” the 101-year-old founder told the RA Board at its regular meeting. “A lot of attention is paid to the naysayers. It is a bloody fact when an issue comes up, people in favor stay home and NIMBYS come out to holler. A good NIMBY knows first thing you holler is traffic. It takes sophisticated analysis to know whether it will affect traffic. But that is what they use to terrify the board.”

Simon recalled several proposals that he said would have benefitted the community, but which died due to community conflict.

“There were three proposals to cover RA tennis courts,” he said. “In each case, NIMBYS prevailed. There was a proposal for Barton Hill, where they were going to cover the tennis courts and then you climb up the hill to the houses. People brought forth a 13-year-old girl to testify who told us if we covered the tennis courts she would not dare go out of the house.”

Simon said if he had the responsibility of starting bocce here, I would “have had a budget of $127 for the bocce court and would have had two stakes and bunch of balls.”

Bocce was proposed and discussed in 2013 and 2014 and met with neighbor pushback. Neighbors close to Cabots Point, where the courts were planned and approved by the RA Board, said traffic, crowds and a possible increase in crime would happen. They also did not like the way the association and then-South Lakes Director Richard Chew went about notifying residents of the possibility of bocce.

“Bocce is a lot of fun,” said Simon. “Can you imagine the traffic that would be with two old gentlemen throwing balls on the ground?”

Ultimately, after nearly a year of discussion, the board voted to revoke its approval after it determined the cost estimates would be exponentially more than originally forecast.

“I beg of you, when the happens, no matter what there will be NIMBYs there telling don’t do it,” said Simon. “You listened on Bocce. Don’t do that again.”

Simon also spoke out on village centers. He encouraged the directors to look at the future of Reston as plazas surrounded by mixed use, rather than continuing to have strip centers serve as village centers.

The Reston Master Plan amendments recently put planning in place in the event developers want to make over the existing village centers. They will not need a comprehensive plan amendment to make changes.

Simon originally planned Reston’s village centers to resemble Lake Anne Village Center. But by the time the subsequent village center’s were built, Simon was no longer involved in the project and Hunters Woods, South Lakes, North Point and Tall Oaks were built in a more traditional, suburban manner.

Bob Simon/file photo

Restonians flocked to Lake Anne Plaza on Saturday to help Reston founder Bob Simon celebrate his 101st birthday.

Simon has been feted at the annul Founders Day since he turned 90.

Local dignitaries such as Sen. Janet Howell, Del. Ken Plum, County Board of Supervisors Chair Sharon Bulova and Hunter Mill School Board rep Pat Hynes stopped by to wish Simon well, as well as take part in a “Cards Against Humanity”-style Reston game.

Simon’s birthday was on Friday. He kept a busy pace on Saturday, taking part in the Reston Little League Parade at Reston Town Center and helping kick of the Nature House Fund Run 5K earlier in the day.

Simon’s secret to being a hearty 101? A gin Bloody Mary and a martini daily, as well as lots of naps and walks, he says.

Reston founder Bob Simon turns 101 years old Friday.

Come out to wish Simon — and Reston — a happy birthday at the annual Founders Day celebration at Lake Anne Plaza Saturday.

The free events, hosted by the Reston Historic Trust and Museum, run from noon to 3 p.m. at Lake Anne Plaza.

State, local and national elected officials will participate in a game of “Random Reston,” which will be emceed by Chuck Veatch. There will also be musical entertainment, the dedication of the plaza’s newest commemorative bricks, as well as birthday cake.

Simon, who envisioned a “new town” with European-style village centers and high-density housing in what was then a Virginia pasture, turns 101 on April 10.

There will also be a raffle, which will benefit the Reston Historic Trust & Museum Endowment Fund. The RHT is raffling off a pair of “inside out” diamond hoop earrings valued at $2,500. The earrings, donated by Aspen Jewelry Designs, contain 50 diamonds weighing 1.01 carats.

Raffle tickets are $10 each, 3 for $25 or 7 for $50. They can be purchased  in advance at the Reston Museum at Lake Anne Plaza, online at restonmuseum.org or at the Wine Cabinet at North Point Village Center. The drawing will follow the celebration. You do not have to be present to win.

Other events of note this weekend:

Reston Association will host the 12th annual Nature House Fund Run 5K on Saturday. The race will benefit Nature House at the Walker Nature Education Center and The Friends of Reston.

Race start time is 8 a.m. at Walker Nature Center, 11450 Glade Dr.

The course is run on mostly RA’s paved walkway. Walkers and children are welcome, but pets and strollers are not permitted.

To register and see the course map, visit the race website.

Happy Birthday, Reston — you look good for 51. And founder Bob Simon seems to be the heartiest (almost) 101 year old around.

Come and celebrate both birthdays at the annual Reston Founders Day on April 11.

The free events, hosted by the Reston Historic Trust and Museum, run from noon to 3 p.m. at Lake Anne Plaza.

State, local and national elected officials will participate in a game of “Random Reston,” which will be emceed by Chuck Veatch. There will also be musical entertainment, the dedication of the plaza’s newest commemorative bricks, as well as birthday cake.

Simon, who envisioned a “new town” with European-style village centers and high-density housing in what was then a Virginia pasture, turns 101 on April 10.

Founders Day raffle tickets are on sale now, offering an opportunity to support the Reston Historic Trust & Museum Endowment Fund. The RHT is raffling off a pair of “inside out” diamond hoop earrings valued at $2,500. The earrings, donated by Aspen Jewelry Designs, contain 50 diamonds weighing 1.01 carats.

Raffle tickets are $10 each, 3 for $25 or 7 for $50. They can be purchased at the Reston Museum at Lake Anne Plaza, online at restonmuseum.org or at the Wine Cabinet at North Point Village Center. The drawing will follow the celebration. You do not have to be present to win.

Photo: Reston founder Bob Simon at his 100th birthday at 2014 Founders Day.

Bob Simon, sadly, is all over the news today.

He is trending on Twitter, part of many headlines and breaking news crawls on television.

That has led some Restonians to ask Reston Now whether the news is about “our” Bob Simon, the 100-year-old founder of Reston.

It is not.

The Bob Simon all over the news Thursday is the longtime CBS News and 60 Minutes correspondent, who was killed in a car crash on New York City’s West Side Highway Wednesday night. The correspondent, who as held as a prisoner of war for 40 days  during the first Gulf War, was 73.

Bob Simon, the founder of Reston, is just fine. He will celebrate his 101st birthday in April.

Photos: Top: Bob Simon/Credit: CBS News. Right: Bob Simon, Reston founder/file photo

With the snip of a giant red ribbon and the departure of a train from the Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station, Reston officially welcomed rail transit to the community on Saturday. It was a long road to get here.

The lengthy process was oft-mentioned by the many VIPs from the federal government, DC, Maryland and Virginia as they spoke of the near-misses, the political squabbles, the legal challenges and logistical woes leading up to the Silver line’s opening day.

The $2.9 billion Silver Line Phase I — with five new stations in Tysons Corner and at Reston’s Wiehle Avenue — arrived six months late and $150 million over budget. That did not matter to the crowd of riders eager to climb aboard the first train.

“It is awesome to have easy access to D.C.,” said Yasmin Taylor as she headed for the inaugural train with her two young sons. The Herndon native, visiting from Atlanta, said the prospect of boarding a train here to visit the Smithsonian is “so exciting.”

Wiehle-Reston East will be the end of the line until 2018, when Phase II  — also beset with squabbles and money questions — is expected to open. Phase II will have stops at Reston Parkway, Herndon, Route 28, Dulles International Airport and Ashburn.

“The Silver Line project has spanned well over 20 years,” said Sharon Bulova, chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, who pointed out that the road to the Silver Line went through six Virginia transportation chiefs and several U.S. Transportation Secretaries. “It’s spanned across administrations, community leadership. Everyone here today stepped up to the plate.”

Said Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority General Manager Richard Sarles: “We’re here today  as a result of many, many people ironing out their differences and working together for the common good.”

The officials’ remarks came at a private ceremony on the South side of the toll road just prior to the Silver Line opening to the public. Metro officials said the ceremony was closed due to crowd control reasons (indeed, the tent was filled to standing room only).

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx compared getting to Silver Line opening day to that of building medieval cathedrals. Often, builders did not know what they finished product would look like until they got there decades later.

“What I’m reminded of is that the work of transportation is really the work of generations,” Foxx said. “And if we’re not putting those cornerstones in place as a nation, we’re not building for the generations to come afterward. So this is a time to celebrate the voices of ‘yes’ sounding louder than the voices of ‘no.’ ”

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA 11th) has been fighting for the Silver Line for nearly 20 years, first as Fairfax County Supervisor and then as a congressmen.

“In my case, 19 years is a long time to get something really big done,” he said. “But now we are finally riding it! Everyone said rail to Dulles was dead. There were not many believers. We were sued. Some of the people who sued us are in the room.We created a tax district that collapsed and was resurrected; we had eight years of a Bush administration that was [not receptive] to transit in general. But working together we were ale to prevail.”

Connolly called rail in western Fairfax County ‘transformative” to the entire region.

“It links the most important corridor to the region’s core,” he said. Read More

Reston’s future begins Saturday at noon.

That’s when the first Metro Silver Line car leaves Wiehle-Reston East heading toward Tysons Corner, Arlington, Washington, D.C., and really, anywhere in the region that Metro goes.

It’s been a 50-year journey from Virginia cow pasture to major regional business center and a place nearly 60,000 people call home. While the opening of rail in Reston is a momentous day, it also will spark an era of development and growth here.

We asked some high profile Restonians what the Silver Line means to Reston. Here is what they had to say.

Del. Ken Plum, Reston’s representative in Richmond for more than 30 years and a founder of the Dulles Corridor Rail Association:

When the milestones of Reston are  announced in the future, this will be a major milestone. The Silver Line connects us with the metropolitan region. It helps our workforce. It helps our community.

Now the key is how do you effectively use the stations? You need a feeder bus system. Fairfax County has been very good at putting that in place. You will also need rapid transit feeding the stations. Running the line is the first big step. Then you have got to move towards transit-oriented development. We’re doing that. Then we have to have alternative ways of moving people to the station. That’s when you really become a transit-oriented community.

My concern was would [rail] happen in my lifetime? I always thought when you look at where we are in the region, you would never build a road wide enough and have cars be the only source.

Mark Ingrao, President and CEO of the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce:

I think it means a tremendous amount to have the ability to bring people from East to West. A  lot of people talk about West going East, but this is going to bring an opportunity to bring employees and employers from East to West. I think it is a game changer for Reston.

We are actually getting a lot of calls [from businesses looking to relocate to Reston]. We [the chamber] are actually looking for space closer to the Metro station. I get calls regularly from folks in Arlington, Maryland, DC. They want to come here. Rental rates here are much cheaper than inside the Beltway. You can come here, be located on the rail line, be able to get into the District if you need to, and still have a much cheaper rental rate for your property.

Reston founder Robert E. Simon. The 100-year-old plans to be one of the first Silver Line riders:

Am I excited? You betcha! Back in 1966, I was negotiating for light rail. That’s almost 50 years.

As you know, we still have to get out to airport. And for Reston itself: the [Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force]  spent four or five years planning and did not get very far. I think that so long as we get the Town Center North developed the way I hope, with a theater and a library, and get the so-called village centers made into village centers. I would like to see the village centers look like Lake Anne, with plazas surrounded by density. Density IS coming to Lake Anne now. It was planned that way. The NIMBYs prevented it from happening. Read More

Reston residents and community leaders came to United Christian Parish on Saturday to see what Fairfax County planners may have in store for Reston as the community undertakes Phase II of the Reston Master Plan Special Study.

What they found: mostly information about the process, which will rely heavily on input from the people who live or own businesses here.

As Reston embarks on its second 50 years, there needs to be a plan in place for redevelopment, whether that happens next year or in 30 years, says Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins.

“Whether we develop today or in the future, we need to determine what the county’s role will be in that plan and what the plan should be,” she said. “Phase I changed the rules. Here, we are not changing the rules.”

Fairfax County officials say the the current comprehensive plan, last updated in 1989, requires revision because Reston no longer has a master developer to update the plan for Reston; the plan for Reston has outdated elements; and with population expected to grow with the arrival of Metro later this year, Reston is evolving as a community.

After four years of task force meetings, Phase I of the Reston Master Plan Special Study was approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors earlier this year. Phase I maps out how development should proceed in the area surrounding Reston’s eventual three Silver Line Metro stations. Much of that area, particularly Wiehle-Reston East (scheduled to open this summer), previously had little residential development.

Phase II will mainly look at Reston’s village and convenience centers. It will also be done under Fairfax County’s new “Fairfax Forward” method of comprehensive plan review, which will rely on greater community engagement.

Reston founder Bob Simon, for one, says Reston could have fewer village centers. When Reston was planned in the early 1960s, supermarkets were about 15,000 square feet, he said. Today, they are more than 100,000 square feet.

“Since we were planning for 80,000 people, we planned for seven village centers and one town center,” said Simon. “We don’t need all of them. But I do think each village center should have a plaza.” Read More

More than 800 guests gathered at the Hyatt Regency Reston on Thursday to pay tribute to founder Bob Simon’s 100th birthday and celebrate this year’s honorees at the Best of Reston Awards and Gala.

The gala capped a week of celebrations in Reston, including Founder’s Day and a VIP premiere of the documentary “Another Way of Living: The Story of Reston, VA.”

Simon was also a honorary co-chair of the event. He challenged Restonians to meet his goal of raising more than $1 million over the last two years. Patrons answered the call, raising $675,000 in 2014 for a two-year total of $1,178,000.

“It is such a big number, it is hard to express the appreciation and gratitude I have for everyone here,” Cornerstones CEO Kerrie Wilson told the crowd. “There is something very special about the community that says ‘you are welcome here.’ “

Wilson announced last night that Cornerstones is about to purchase 48 more affordable housing units, which will help the nonprofit double its housing stock, another challenge Simon asked residents to meet. The new apartments are located at North Point.

The Best of Reston awards honor individuals and businesses for their commitment to community service. This years honorees:

Individual Community Leaders

Carol Ann Bradley — The former educator has given back to the community through volunteer work with Global Camps Africa, Friends of the Reston Regional Library and the Embry Rucker Community Shelter, among others. She help found the mentoring organizations The Links, Inc., and Educators Then, Now and Forever. She has also served on the board of the Reston Community Center.

Jerry Ferguson — Ferguson is the director of Development and Outreach for Fairfax Public Access. He has donated many hours to produce and film videos to aid fundraising and public relations for organizations such as FACETS, Leadership Fairfax, Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce (GRCC) and Cornerstones.

Cate Fulkerson -The Reston Association CEO is also the chair of Reston’s Character Counts! Coalition, chairs GRCC’s annual Ethics Day and is an Emerging Leaders Institute Mentor.

Bonnie Haukness — A Reston Realtor, Haukness chairs the annual Reston Home Tour to benefit the Reston Historic Trust. She also co-chairs the annual Capital Steps benefit for Cornerstones and was instrumental in establishing scholarships for campers at Reston Association summer camps, among other projects.

Davida Luehrs — Luehrs uses her life experience to aid the low-vision community. She has been a leader with the Northern Virginia Chapter of the Foundation Fighting Blindness, the Sterling Lions, the American Council of the Blind and the Visually Impaired People of Reston. She established the local VisionWalk and has raised more than $1 million since 2007. She also volunteers with the Boy and Girl Scouts, Herndon Middle and High School Bands and Reston Swim Team Association.

Civic/Community Leader

HomeAid Northern Virginia — This group was founded in 2001 by members of the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association. HomeAid helps renovate shelters, transitional and affordable housing and has completed 70 projects and helped more than 10,000 people.

Small Business Leader

Brennan & Waite, PLC — This legal firm, founded by husband and wife Matthew Brennan and the late Carol Waite, has supported GRCC, Habitat for Humanity, Let’s Help Kids, and other local organizations. Brennan has worked in the community to help other schools adopt and Ethics Day program, recruited candidates for Leadership Fairfax and funded scholarships so nonprofit leaders could participate.

Corporate Business Leader

Cooley, LLC – Large law firm Cooley, with offices at Reston Town Center, encourages employees to give back. The firm matches employee fundraising and cumulatively contributed more than $1 million last year. More than 466 Cooley lawyers have contributed more than 33,000 hours on 687 pro bono matters annually.

It’s been quite a week for Reston founder Bob Simon. Well, actually, it’s been quite a century.

Simon turns 100 years old today.

The new centurion will cap a week of celebrations, toasts and other tributes by donning a tuxedo and serving as honorary co-chair of Thursday’s 2014 Best of Reston Gala at the Hyatt Regency Reston. Simon, who also co-chaired the event last year, set a goal for the two years of raising $1 million in two years for local nonprofit Cornerstones.

Simon was born in New York City on April 10, 1914. Now he calls the 13th floor of Lake Anne’s Heron House home. His secret to life? A daily walk around Lake Anne Plaza, the original vision he had for a “New Town” built around village centers. Also, a daily martini.

Have birthday greetings for Simon? Write them in the comments below. 

Fifty years after its founding, Reston is still living by the principles of its founder, Robert E. Simon.

Master of Ceremonies Chuck Veatch — one of the original salesmen for the “New Town” back in the 1960s — read Simon’s words from Reston’s dedication at the Founder’s Day celebration at Lake Anne Plaza on Saturday.

“The deed of Reston celebrates not the completion of this new town, but symbolizes its beginning,” Simon said in 1964. “It is a place where people will come to live, work, play and call their own. We have just begun to build — there is very much more to come. But from this day forward, Reston is its people.”

Several hundred people — some of them original Restonians or children of original Restonians — were in attendance Saturday for the celebration of Reston’s 50th birthday and Simon’s 100th birthday. Also paying tribute — Gov. Terry McAuliffe; Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam; Sen. Tim Kaine; Rep. Gerry Connolly;  County Supervisors Sharon Bulova and Cathy Hudgins;  and Virginia General Assembly members Del. Ken Plum and Sen. Janet Howell.

President Barack Obama also sent his regards in a letter to Simon.

“You are part of a generation that helped guide our country through uncertain and extraordinary times, and the energy and creativity you have shown over the years serve as an inspiration,” wrote the president. “As you celebrate a century of memories, I hope you take tremendous pride in the community you founded 50 years ago and all you have done to ensure our neighborhoods are vibrant places to live and work.”

Reston’s place in history was was a top topic during the tributes. In Virginia in 1964, segregation was alive and well. Simon envisioned an open, inclusive community where people of all races, ages and incomes could live.

“We moved here in 1969,” said Hudgins, who is black. “Things were different in this country and in the world. We are lucky we found a place here. Reston has been able to give us and so many other people the feeling that they belong. … Reston is and has been a model.”

Sen. Tim Kaine, who also served as governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010, put Simon’s vision in perspective.

“In 1964, when Reston opened, discrimination was rampant and legal,” he said. “It wasn’t until 1968 that the federal Fair Housing Act was passed. It wasn’t until 1971 that the Virginia General Assembly passed the South’s first fair housing law.

“Bob [Simon] was a real visionary,” Kaine said. “All human beings ought to be able to live together and be neighbors. When we look at Virginia history since World War II, Bob should be one of the 5 or 6 individuals. Bob took a state that was facing backward and turned it facing forward.”

Other Founder’s Day fun including musical performances from South Lakes High School, Terraset Elementary School and Hunters Woods Preschool; honoring the second and third generations of Restonians who have returned to live and work here; and a dedication of commemorative bricks and a historical marker; and, of course, birthday cake.