"Victory City, Orville Simpson speaking," says the voice on the other end of the line. It's not "hello" or "good afternoon," mind you. No, when Mr. Simpson answers the phone, he is all business, and his business is Victory City … even if it doesn't really exist yet.

Orville Simpson II is not your average guy. He is fascinated with urban planning, architecture, engineering, artistry, and in general, making the world a better place to live by promoting his plans for the city of the future.

He had 23 different jobs in the first 15 years of his working and business career. The last job was acquisition clerk in Urban Renewal at Cincinnati City Hall. This job qualified him to take several evening courses at the University of Cincinnati at half price. The courses were: business law, business management, the principles and practices of real estate, real estate appraising, and economics. He passed all except the economics. This new knowledge was helpful when he bought a 4-family apartment building in January 1958 and a 9-family in 1959. His first large investment, however, was Grumman Aircraft common stock in 1948 for $3,000. This was the first investment in the stock market. It went very well and encouraged him to buy more, which he did often in the future.

When his father died in September 1968, his net worth had risen to $111,000. He received $114,000 when the distribution was made in 1969. The new net worth was then $225,000. It took him 61 years to make his first million in December 1984. It took 7 more years to make the second million, and 5 more years to make 3 million. Now, the entire estate is destined to go to the promotion of Victory Cities.

Photo by Barbara Walz, Onyx, September 1987.