Phil Ivey's Grandfather

So who would have guessed that Black History Month laureate, Leonard Bud Simmons, was Phil Iveys Grand father!

Simmons was the first black policeman in Roselle, the town’s first black police commissioner and first black school board member. He was the founding president of the Roselle branch of the NAACP and, in 1959, organized the Union County African-American Republicans.

He participated in the March on Washington in 1963, and the Selma to Montgomery march in 1965. He met Martin Luther King at the Washington march, as well as Malcolm X, inviting the latter to speak in Roselle in 1965.

He served in World War II with the 648th Ordnance Company in France, Belgium, England and Germany, receiving five battle stars and two citations for meritorious service. At Veteran Cleaners, the dry-cleaning business he owned on Morris Street, Bud Simmons would talk about the state of Roselle, and the nation. Smith recalled Simmons — an extremely brilliant man.

In 2008, Simmons Ivey and her son, professional poker player Phil Ivey, founded the Budding Ivey Foundation in memory of Bud Simmons. The nonprofit organization provides educational opportunities to at-risk children.

In the last two years, the foundation has given 1,500 books to Roselle schoolchildren. It donated enough money to Roselle Pop Warner to buy 100 football uniforms, funded a High School Heroes program through Junior Achievement of New Jersey and awarded a $1,000 scholarship to a high school student.

Simmons passed away at the age of 87. He is buried in Graceland Memorial Park in Kenilworth.