Service Held for Ex-Avco Executive Harold Simms

Funeral services were held this week for Harold G. Simms, a former executive vice president of Avco Financial Services and leader in the consumer finance industry, who died July 30 at Hoag Memorial Hospital. He was 84.

Simms, born in New York City, was the son of a British-born father who was a steward on the White Star steamship line. He had crossed the Atlantic Ocean five times before he was 5 years old, family members said.

As a schoolboy after World War I, Simms worked for Ford Motor Co. for $5 per day on the Model A. He attended Valley Forge Military Academy and Duke University, but left school to support his family after his mother died.

After stints with the Beneficial Finance Co. in Pennsylvania, the Railroad Employees Credit Corp. in New York, and Seaboard Finance Co., Simms went to work for Avco Financial Services in Newport Beach in 1971, where he helped that company expand its business into Europe, Japan and Canada. He retired in 1977.

He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Kathryn, son Harold Jr., daughter Kathryn, five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Services were held Wednesday at Pacific View Mortuary in Newport Beach.