Shimon Eliah Friedman was born 18 November 1907 in Kopaigorod, Russia. He escaped from Russia with his family in 1921 to Hermosillo, Mexico, via the Port of Vera Cruz. The Friedman family and Kibrick family, friends from the same area in Russia who had fled at the same time, lived and worked together in Hermosillo waiting for the opportunity to legally enter the United States.
The family crossed the border in 1923 with the Friedman family going west to Los Angeles and the Kibrick family going east to New York. Simon followed the Kibrick family to New York City where he waited for Anna Kibrick, with whom he had fallen in love, to come of marrying age. They married in New York on 20 October 1926 and shortly after moved to Los Angeles where they had three daughters.
Simon trained and worked as a dental technician and had his own successful practice in Los Angeles (initially at 328 So. Cummings St.) until the Stock Market crash in 1930. He then went onto work at the family run Friedman Bag Co. He died in Los Angeles 7 January, 1965.
