William Lee Sims, II (October 17, 1896 – April 29, 1977) was an American businessman, farmer, and philanthropist.
His education was cut short by World War I; he served in the U.S. Army and was stationed at Camp Gordon near Augusta, Georgia.
In March of 1927, Sims headed to Milan via Paris, accompanied by his wife, sister, and 8-month-old son, Wythe.
In April of 1927, Sims founded the Italian subsidiary of Palmolive, starting in the Touring Hotel in Milan.
[1] From 1943 to 1944 Sims served as the head of Drugs and Chemical Unit at the Office of Price Administration in Washington, DC.
Sims served as a founding member and Secretary-Treasurer of the St. Augustine Historical Restoration and Preservation Commission from 1959 to 1969, appointed by Governor LeRoy Collins.
Sims married Kathleen Wilkes on June 26, 1923, in Birmingham, AL, in the studio of Miss Sara "Saddie" Mallam.
She was the daughter of William Henderson Wilkes (1864-1916), an L&N Railroad conductor, and his wife Annie Eliza McKoin; both originally from Tennessee.
Sims and his bride had first met and gotten to know each other at Miss Mallam's studio while taking vocal lessons and performing musicals.
Sims loved the fact that he met Will Rogers on an Air France flight in 1934, from Belgrade to Bucharest, and got to talk with him at length.
Sims donated $27,000 to the St. Augustine Historical Restoration and Preservation Commission to reconstruct a colonial silversmith shop.
In 1975, Sims donated about $30,000 worth of Colgate-Palmolive stock to pay off the $26,504.85 mortgage of the Loch Haven Art Center.