Ritesh Gandhi at 14:45, 12 February 2026

2026-02-12T14:45:02Z

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{{short description|Indian Army officer and schoolmaster (1918-2007)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = [[Lieutenant Colonel|Lt. Col.]]
| name = Eric Joseph Simeon
| image =
| image_size = 150px
| alt =
| alma_mater = [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]], [[Master of Arts|M.A.]]<br>[[University of Allahabad]]
| caption = Eric Simeon with the former Prime Minister of India [[Indira Gandhi]]
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1918
| birth_place = [[Allahabad]], [[British India]]
| death_date = 15 May 2007
| death_place = India
| other_names =
| known_for = Headmaster of [[La Martiniere Calcutta]] (1967-1970)<br>Headmaster of [[The Doon School]] (1971-1979)<br>Headmaster of [[Cathedral and John Connon School]] (1979-1986)
| occupation = [[Scholar]], [[Academic staff|Academic]], [[Schoolmaster]]
}}

'''Eric Joseph Simeon''' (1918–2007), was an Indian school educationalist. He was the [[headmaster]] of some of the distinguished schools of India from 1960s to the mid-1980s. He served as the headmaster of [[La Martiniere Calcutta]], [[The Doon School]] and [[Cathedral and John Connon School]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lmbcal.ac.in/the-principalscalcutta/?phpMyAdmin=8b2e01046db06eec6af53f4e166d9462 |title=The Principals of La Martiniere for Boys, Calcutta | Official Website of Lamartiniere for Boys, Kolkata, India |publisher=Lmbcal.ac.in |accessdate=2012-03-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023112029/http://www.lmbcal.ac.in/the-principalscalcutta/?phpMyAdmin=8b2e01046db06eec6af53f4e166d9462 |archive-date=23 October 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Career==
In 1949, then Capt. Eric Simeon — a Corps of Signals officer — was posted at the [[Rashtriya Indian Military College|Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College, Dehradun]].

Later, in July 1961 when stationed in Delhi — he was summoned by [[V. K. Krishna Menon]], then Defence Minister of India, to head the first [[Sainik School]] of India. It was the beginning of his educational career when he became the Founder Principal of [[Sainik School, Kunjpura]]. He served there for seven years till his retirement from the Indian Army in 1967.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hindu.com/2007/05/16/stories/2007051615082000.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070602174616/http://www.hindu.com/2007/05/16/stories/2007051615082000.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-06-02 |title=National : Lt. Col. Eric Joseph Simeon dead |date=2007-05-16 |work=[[The Hindu]] |accessdate=2012-03-05}}</ref>

From 1967 till 1970, he was the headmaster of [[La Martiniere Calcutta|La Martiniere School for Boys, Calcutta]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lmbcal.ac.in/history/la-martiniere-schools/ |title=La Martiniere Schools | Official Website of Lamartiniere for Boys, Kolkata, India |publisher=Lmbcal.ac.in |accessdate=2012-03-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224193119/http://www.lmbcal.ac.in/history/la-martiniere-schools/ |archive-date=24 February 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> After his tenure at La Martiniere he joined [[The Doon School]] as its fourth headmaster. He was the first Indian headmaster at the Doon School and became one of the longest serving headmasters in Doon's history with a tenure spanning almost a decade.<ref>http://www.doonschool.com/images/weekly_pdf/14%20march%2009.pdf{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> After his retirement from Doon, his last project was the headmastership of [[Cathedral and John Connon School]] in [[Mumbai]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/schooled-for-life/32471/ |title=Schooled for life |publisher=Indian Express |date=2007-06-02 |accessdate=2012-03-05}}</ref>

On 15 May 2007 he died of [[lung cancer]].

==See also==
* [[Rashtriya Indian Military College|Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College]]
* [[The Doon School]]
* [[The Doon School#History|Headmasters of The Doon School]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [https://archive.today/20121219012747/http://fullcirclebooks.in/content/chhota-hazri-days-doscos-yatra ''Chhota Hazri Days: A Dosco's Yatra''] by Sanjiv Bathla, [[Rupa & Co.]], 2010 {{ISBN|978-81-291-1694-9}}.
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=oFRF6vs5algC&q=Doon+School ''The Corporeal Image''] by David McDougall, [[Princeton University Press]], 2006, {{ISBN|978-0-691-12156-7}}.
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=NEdmQgAACAAJ ''Doon, The Story of a School''], IPSS (1985) edited by Sumer Singh, published by the Indian Public Schools Society 1985.
* [https://books.google.com/books?q=Constructing+PostColonial+India:+National+Character+and+the+Doon+School, ''Constructing Post-Colonial India: National Character and the Doon School''] by Sanjay Srivastva, published by [[Routledge]] 1998 {{ISBN|0-203-98027-1}}.
* ''The Doon School – Sixty Years On'', edited by Pushpinder Singh Chopra, published by the Doon School Old Boys' Society in October 1996

{{s-start}}
{{s-aca}}
{{succession box
||before= [[C. J. Miller]]
|title= Headmaster of [[The Doon School]]
|years=1971-1979
|after=[[Gulab Ramchandani]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{The Doon School}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simeon, Eric}}
[[Category:1918 births]]
[[Category:2007 deaths]]
[[Category:Headmasters of The Doon School]]
[[Category:Scholars from Allahabad]]

{{Educationist-stub}}
{{India-academic-bio-stub}}

Eric Simeon - Revision history

Ritesh Gandhi at 14:45, 12 February 2026