Reston Master Plan, Basic OverviewReston’s founder Robert Edward Simon Jr., a native New Yorker, was the son of one of the major investors in Radburn. The Simon family was the majority owner of Carnegie Hall, one of the most-storied music venues in America. Simon served as president of Carnegie for twenty-five years, until the family sold it to New York City in 1960. With proceeds from the sale, Simon, through a company that included his three sisters, purchased the 6,750 acres of farmland and woods that would become Reston. Simon had relatively little experience in large-scale development, but he had first-hand experience with the frustrations of raising a family in the suburbs. He and his wife became suburbanites after he returned from service in World War II (1939–1945). Living in leafy Syosset, Long Island, the Simons chafed at their dependence on automobiles as they chauffeured their two children to swimming meets and other appointments scattered throughout Nassau County.