Lao Genevra Simons was born on March 25, 1870, in San Jose, California.
[1] Upon retiring from Hunter College, Simons founded a $1000 scholarship for the university named after the mathematics honour society, Pi Mu Epsilon.
A second graduate scholarship was created in her name, funded by friends, alumnae, and admirers, in the same year.
Simons' doctoral thesis was entitled Introduction of algebra into American schools in the eighteenth century.
[2] At Hunter College, Simons was Chairman of Student Activities from 1934, when the committee was initially founded, until 1940.