[2] Richard Leo Simon was born on March 6, 1899, in New York City to a wealthy Jewish family.
[4] After serving in World War I, Simon returned to the United States and, leveraging his talent for music, worked as a piano salesman before eventually launching his career in book publishing.
[4] Richard Simon was the eldest of five siblings – Henry, Alfred, George, and Elizabeth – all of whom were named after British monarchs.
Another brother, Henry W. Simon, was an English professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, a classical music critic for the newspaper PM, and an author of numerous books on opera.
Raised in Philadelphia, Andrea was the daughter of a Cuban-born, Roman Catholic mother, Asuncion Maria del Rio, and a German-speaking Swiss father who had abandoned the family.
[4] (Andrea also asserted she was of partial "Moorish" origin based on her mother's exotic looks, but was in fact of Afro-Cuban descent).