Sam Simon Announces Donation of Fortune to Charity

It's been an awful 2013 for Sam Simon, in many ways, but that doesn't mean he isn't making the best of.  Simon, the celebrated co-creator of The Simpsons and one of the poker world's wealthiest and most well-known "visiting celebrities," was diagnosed earlier this year with terminal, metastatic colon cancer.

Simon, familiar to TV-poker audiences from his WSOP main-event cashes in 2011 and 2007, has a lengthier and more established poker career than most casual fans would realize.  His recorded tourney cashes, per the HendonMob database, stretch all the way back to 1995, and he's logged six WSOP cashes along with a couple of dozen scores in California events.

He's also, as most people know, the former husband of poker-playing actress Jennifer Tilly, and though the two have been separated for many years, they remained on amicable terms.

The popular Simon's personal fortune was secured through royalties from the long-running Simpsons series, and as he told a Huffington Post interviewer, "The truth is, I have more money than I'm interested in spending."  He's already taken care of those close to him, so Simon has announced the donation of a large portion of his remaining wealth to several charities, mostly animal-welfare groups.

Simon's Sam Simon Foundation, in California, serves the hungry of two species -- dogs and humans -- though humans get only vegan fare.  Simon is also a large contributor to various animal-rights groups (including the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and PETA), and has been a major contributor to Save the Children as well.

Whether or not one favors the same charities as Simon does isn't the point.  Simon is living out whatever time he has left on his terms, and using his fortune to do good in the manner he sees fit.  It's a classy legacy to  leave.