Dwight J. Sims

Dwight J. Sims, 83, passed away at home in Cotati, CA on July 17, 2022. Whether discussing Shakespearean sonnets, raku glazes or Eastern religion, Dwight had a passion for teaching, learning, and sharing ideas, connecting to those around him through the exchange of thoughts and theories.   Born in Indiana, Dwight grew up in Los Angeles and La Jolla, where he met and married Diana Bierstein in 1962. He completed his Ph.D. in English Literature at UCLA in 1968 and became a professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, where his two daughters were born. After moving back to California’s Bay Area in 1976, he took a course on financial planning which led him to a second career, becoming the President of Protected Investors of America in 1979. Finding love a second time with Cathie Haynes on Thanksgiving, 1987, he remarried on Thanksgiving, 2010 at the Mono County Courthouse, Bridgeport, California. Always an art-lover, in his retirement he became an avid sculptor and potter.   He is survived by his devoted wife, Cathie and their faithful four-legged, Shasta, his two daughters, Katie and Leigh, sister Sylvia, brother Steve and many nieces and nephews. Dwight’s natural curiosity, kindness, and quiet demeanor (occasionally punctuated by an emphatic HA!) will be missed by friends and colleagues from his teaching days, financial planning years, and from pottery studios and the communities where he made his home in Sonoma County, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.   Mono Lake was a special place for Dwight. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Mono Lake Committee in Dwight's name. The donations wil be earmarked for restoration of the Mono Lake Basin. No Service

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