Fannie Simon (1891–1980) was an American librarian and magazine editor, known for her passion for world travel. She is best recognized for her long career at McCall’s Magazine and her active participation in various professional, cultural, and community organizations. During her retirement, Simon devoted much of her time to volunteer work. Throughout her lifetime, she traveled to over 150 countries, often journeying alone, and she had a deep passion for the arts and civic engagement.

Fannie Simon was born in New York City on April 15, 1891, the daughter of Julius and Bertha Gubner Simon.^[1] Her father emigrated from Germany in 1885 and was able to make a prosperous living for his family as a clothier. Thus, Fannie Simon grew up in Westchester County and on the Upper West Side, with live-in servants and horseback riding in Central Park with her brother, Alexander. In 1930, Simon moved to the Murray Hill section of Manhattan, where she would live for the next fifty years. She attended Smith College, graduating in 1914, and began working two years later, first in advertising, then in the magazine industry, primarily as an on-staff librarian. In 1932, Simon joined the Special Libraries Association, an organization she remained active in until her death. She was a dedicated supporter of the Metropolitan Opera Guild and the New York Philharmonic Society. In addition to these cultural organizations, she was actively involved in the New York City Republican Club and the Smith College Alumnae Association. She participated in the Church of the Incarnation and was also engaged with her neighborhood association, the Murray Hill Committee. After retiring from McCall's Magazine in 1959, where she served as a librarian and associate editor, Simon devoted much of her time to various causes. At the time of her death, she was working as the coordinator for a conversational English program with the English-Speaking Union. Simon's greatest passion was world travel, which began when she was a child traveling to Europe with her family. Shortly before her death, Simon told a friend that she estimated she had traveled to over 150 countries. She often traveled alone, including her last trip to Iceland in September 1980 when she was 89 years old. She published a few travel articles, but her full-length manuscript, "Following Fannie in a Changing World," remains unpublished. Simon died in a traffic accident in New York City on October 20, 1980, at the age of 89.