ARTHUR H. SIMON -- 4 December 1952 - 13 December 1987

A former University of Pittsburgh football player was shot to death by a bandit early Sunday in a restaurant he managed outside East Lansing, Mich.  Art Simon, 35, who formerly lived in Churchill and managed several taverns here, was fatally wounded along with another restaurant employee during a robbery of a Bennigan's Restaurant in Meridian.

State and local police in Michigan formed a task force of 30 investigators yesterday to identify and track down the assailant. Witnesses said the robber, who police believe is between 20 and 25 years old, escaped in a 1980s-model Chevrolet Impala. "He is someone capable of shooting anyone who gets in his way," said Meridian Police Chief John Amthor.  "He's already proven that." 

Simon managed the Razzberry Rhinoceros and Cappy's Bar on Walnut Street in Shadyside and later he was manager of Froggy's Deli, a restaurant in the PPG Place Foodcourt, Downtown.
After that restaurant went out of business in 1986, Simon took a job with the Bennigan's restaurant chain in New Jersey and had been working as manager of the Bennigan's in
Michigan since August.

Just after the 2 a.m. closing Sunday, police said, Simon and two employees were counting the night's receipts in the manager's office of the restaurant. Several shots rang out in the back of the restaurant, and a custodian fell, mortally wounded with four gunshot wounds, in the doorway of a service entrance. Restaurant employees scattered for cover under tables and behind the bar and Simon locked himself and the two others in the office.  Seconds later, the gunman began knocking on the door, threatening to shoot the other employees in the restaurant if Simon did not let him in. 

When Simon complied, the gunman trained his revolver on him and demanded that he open the safe. According to police, Simon told the gunman he did not know the combination. The gunman then fired, hitting him in the chest. Fearing for the lives of the other employees, police said, Simon crawled to the safe and unlocked it. The gunman took about $1,500, Simon and the custodian, Raymond Pettit, 29, of Bath, Mich., were rushed to Edward W.Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, where they were pronounced dead.  Morris speculated that someone associated with the restaurant must have helped the gunman get inside through the back door.

Simon's wife, Beth Russo Simon, formerly of Green Tree, said she and her husband were enjoying Michigan after a hectic year with Bennigan's in Parsippany, N.J.  "It was a whole new beginning for us," she said. "North Jersey was frantic, but Michigan was peaceful and it had good people. We were very happy there." 

News of Simon's death saddened friends here, who recalled him as a superb athlete and a quick-witted and outgoing bar manager with a generous nature.  A second-team, all-state defensive lineman at the former Churchill Area High School and a member of the Big 33 team, Simon turned down more than 100 scholarship offers and enrolled at Pitt in 1970. He played football at Pitt into his junior year, when a back problem ended his career.

After finishing school in 1974. Simon worked as, a salesman, but he soon quit to work in city taverns and restaurants.  "He wanted to be with the people," said Steve Morris, the owner of Froggy's, Downtown. "He was a great people person. He was the guy you wanted to be with." 

After college, Simon donated his time to work with high school football players at Churchill High School, said Woodland Hills assistant coach Barry Johncour, who was Churchill's head coach at the time.  "He was funloving and jovial, and he was always joking and laughing," Johncour said. "But there was nothing too small and nothing was too hard for him to do. He'd do anything for you on the spot."  "I hated to lose him, but I couldn't pay him the money that Bennigan's offered."

In addition to his wife, Simon is survived by his mother, Irene Simon Losman of Eastmont; a sister, Marcie Lynn Caplan of Pittsburgh; and two brothers, Jeffrey of Pittsburgh and Michael of Nashville, Tenn. Friends may call two hours before services at 11 a.m. tomorrow in the Burton L. Hirsch Funeral Home Inc., 2704 Murray Ave., Squirrel Hill.