On the morning of Oct. 12th, a young man walked off a balcony on South Campus and died. Nancy Greenstein, the director of police community services for UCPD, said the physical evidence indicates a suicide.
The victim was the 19-year-old son of a UCLA graduate student. He had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Simon Latimer was born on Oct. 16, 1988. His mother, Dianne Taylor, remembers Simon as an endlessly generous child.
“Anything I would give him, he would give away to the other kids. He got in trouble for not having pencils because he had given them all away,” Taylor said.
Eventually, Taylor decided to home-school her son. As a UCLA student, she gave many of Simon’s lessons on campus. As he grew older, Simon would often return to the campus, occasionally sleeping at his mother’s office in the Earth and Space Sciences Department.
Simon’s final years were marred by mental illness.
His father, Nick Latimer, said Simon had not been in good shape the last time he had seen him.
“He was pretty withdrawn and self-involved. He was struggling with some issues,” Nick said.
He also recalled Simon’s happy, active childhood.
“He enjoyed playing soccer at school, loved to skateboard, snowboard and surf, and he was an avid runner. He loved wildlife and the outdoors,” Nick said.
Simon’s brother, David Latimer, fondly remembers how independent Simon was before he was sick.
“He was very stubborn. … He was very into doing things on his own,” David said.
Taylor says there was an abrupt change in her son in the recent past.
“He did well in school, got awards, and then about a year ago, he started hearing voices and became schizophrenic. His personality changed, and he refused treatment,” Taylor said.
Though his parents tried to get him into programs, Simon declined. Since he was over 18, his parents had no choice but to let him go his own way.
“Because he wasn’t considered “˜bad enough’ by the authorities, I couldn’t get him into a hospital,” Taylor said.
She added that this was especially hard since refusing treatment is a common symptom of schizophrenia. Nick said that they were in the process of gaining conservatorship for Simon, where they could legally make decisions for their son.
“That’s a legal process that we had initiated, but unfortunately, not in time,” Nick said.
Toward the end of his life, Simon fell deeper into mental illness, and decided to become homeless as part of his search for God, Taylor said.
“One of Simon’s symptoms as a schizophrenic was his belief in God. He thought the voices (he heard) were (from) God, so he became homeless in the sense that he was wandering around L.A. searching for God,” Taylor said.
Nick said his son wasn’t exactly homeless, but that it was part of his journey.
“He would go to various churches throughout the city and didn’t always come back to the apartment or office,” Nick said.
Around 11 on Friday morning, Simon pushed a stool up against a balcony railing at Boyer Hall, and jumped.
Nick believes Simon saw suicide as his only choice, though he gave no signs of it.
“It’s very, very sad that he considered that this was his only option, and what’s even more sad is that he didn’t consult us ““ his father, mother or brother. He didn’t indicate anything suicidal ever, even with his therapist,” Nick said.
His mother said Simon’s suicide was a final step in his illness.
“He did commit suicide, but he thought he was just going to heaven. He believed himself to have a personal relationship with God, and this is the way he acted it out,” Taylor said.
Funeral services will be held at Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes (27501 S. Western Ave.) at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20, followed by a memorial service at 7:30 p.m. at The Wayfarers Chapel (5755 Palos Verdes Dr. South).