Sampson Simson

From 1825 until 1832, Simson served as the 2nd Sovereign Grand Commander of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry succeeding Daniel D. Tompkins in this position.

Its location, West 28th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues in New York City, was on land donated by Simson; he served the first president of its board of directors and personally assumed many of the young hospital's financial burdens.

That same year, Simson joined Samuel Myer Isaacs and Adolphus Simeon Solomons to help found the Beth Hamedrash Hagodol.

Simson's estate bequeathed large sums of money to Jewish and general institutions, including $50,000 that, after the death of a niece, should be paid "to any responsible corporation in this city whose permanent fund is established by its charter for the purpose of ameliorating the condition of the Jews in Jerusalem, Palestine."

In 1888, the New York State Supreme Court decided that the sum, plus 30 years' interest, was to be paid to the North American Relief Society for Indigent Jews in Jerusalem.