Warren Simmons ’45 Entrepreneurial Scholarship Honors Illustrious Alum

Warren Simmons with Mayor Dianne Feinstein on Pier 39’s Opening Day

One can only imagine a conversation where a young 20-something-year-old attempts to explain the concept of a working lifetime including multiple careers to Warren Simmons, who might well reply, “Hold my beer.” Even before graduating from Lowell in February 1945, Simmons peddled newspapers at the age of 9, worked as a soda jerk at 12, and juggled 12-hour shifts on the waterfront while attending Lowell—where he was also a yell leader.

After graduating from Cal (where he made a bundle selling war surplus mustard gas protectors as raincoats to fans at Cal football games), he spent 20 years with Pan American Airlines as a pilot flying international routes. At the same time, he founded an electronics factory in Hong Kong and imported monkeys to help produce the Salk polio vaccine—among other business ventures.

However, Warren Simmons will best be known in San Francisco as the tenacious visionary who, after five years of tireless work, obtained the necessary permits to develop Pier 39, which now attracts more than ten million visitors annually. He also founded two successful Mexican restaurant chains: Tia Maria and Chevys. His final successful gamble, in 1992, was to create what is now the world’s largest cranberry growing and processing operation, CranChile, located in southern Chile.

Warren passed away in 2006. But thanks to the generosity of his family and in recognition of his lifelong devotion to Lowell High School, the Warren Simmons ’45 Entrepreneurial Scholarship was established last year. This perpetual college scholarship fund will benefit future generations of Lowellites who display the same talents and vision as the great Warren Simmons.