A bundle of energy, a spark plug, a leader, a personality. A pillar of the community.
These were among the descriptors friends and colleagues ascribed to Alfred De Simone, a Kenosha businessman who devoted his energy to scores of causes, most notably the University of Wisconsin System.
De Simone, 90, died Tuesday at Brookside Care Center, after recent battles with pneumonia and other illnesses.
A longtime agent of the AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co., De Simone is credited as one of the founders of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, and he later served a six-year term on the governor-appointed UW System Board of Regents.