In this interview, David Zierler, Oral Historian for the American Institute of Physics, interviews James H. Simons, Founder and Board Chair of the Simons Foundation. The interview takes place over three sessions, each covering the three main chapters of Simons life. In the first session, Simons discusses his family background and upbringing in Boston, his academic accomplishments in mathematics as an undergraduate at MIT and in graduate school at UC Berkeley; in the second session he discusses the origins and impact of his success as a financial investor; and in the third session Simons discusses his motivation and accomplishments with the creation of the Simons Foundation and the broad array of scientific and humanitarian causes it supports. Simons reflects on some of the intellectual and moral themes that connect each major chapter of his life; he explains how aspects of his mathematical research have advanced physics, and he conveys the enjoyment he feels at being able to support cutting edge research that enhances both theoretical science and real world advances that are improving lives all over the world.