The Region : Simon Has Paralytic Illness, Wife Says

Norton Simon, who built a multibillion-dollar industrial empire and used part of his fortune to fund a Pasadena museum that bears his name, is suffering from a paralytic illness, his wife said. The disclosure by Mrs. Simon, former Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Jones, came in information she prepared for a benefit reception to be held today for the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. It had been reported previously that Simon was ill, but this was the first time the publicity-shy family has talked about the nature and extent of the problem. Simon, 78, was stricken 14 months ago by Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological disorder that causes paralysis, his wife said in information provided to the nursing school’s publicist, Marie Salerno in New York. “In the early months, a team of 10 nurses maintained an intensive-care facility for my husband” at the family’s Beverly Hills home, Mrs. Simon said. “And now, with his progress, they maintain a rehabilitative unit.”