Theater Critic John Simon Dies at 94

John Simon, an award-winning theater writer known for his definitive, sometimes harsh opinions, passed away on November 24 in New York. He was 94. His wife, Patricia Hoag Simon, confirmed his death on Facebook.

"My husband John Simon died last evening at Westchester Medical Center. We were having lunch at the local dinner theatre when he was stricken. He was 94 years old and had an extraordinary life. May 12, 1925-November 24, 2019. Go see a play or read a great book or poem or watch some tennis in his honor—he loved all those things. RIP hubby mine."

Simon was the staff theater critic at New York magazine from 1968 until 2005, when he was dismissed after years of outcry over what many declared as viciousness in his reviews.

Following Simon's exit from New York, Richard Hornby of The Hudson Review wrote, "His removal seems to have been political, with a new editor-in-chief acceding to the usual pressure from theatrical producers to replace him with someone more positive. In fact, Simon was no more negative than most critics, but his lively writing style meant that his gibes were more memorable than those of the others. His enthusiasms were expressed with the same vigor."

Following his tenure at New York, Simon wrote theater reviews for Bloomberg News from 2005-2010 and contributed a column for Broadway.com titled Etcetera from 2006-2008 in which he wrote about books, recordings and special events.

He also wrote about theater, film, music and books for such publications as Esquire, National Review, Opera News, The New Leader, Commonweal, The New Criterion and The New York Times Book Review. Among the honors awarded to Simon over his career were the 1968 George Polk Award for Film Criticism and the 1970 George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism. In 2005, Applause Books published three decades of Simon's reviews for posterity.

While Simon made a name for himself on the page with strong opinions that many believed crossed the line, in a 2004 interview with Broadway.com he said, "The thing that's happened over and over again is that people have met me and found me not biting off their noses, and then they think what a nice person I am in real life as opposed to what I am on the page. I always say, why should I be the way I write a review if I'm talking to you at a cocktail party? Those are two different things."