Harvey James Sims was born December 25, 1871 in Waterloo, Ontario to Peter Harvey Sims and Jemima Cook. A graduate of Trinity College at the University of Toronto, he went on to complete his law course at Osgoode Hall. "In 1921 he was made King's Counsel and became a well-known authority on municipal law, acting as Kitchener's solicitor for many years. He was a leading authority on insurance law and was author of Life Insurance Contracts in Canada." (Waterloo Region Hall of Fame) He became known for the landscape gardening of Chicopee, his country estate south of Kitchener, Ontario, and for reforestation programs in the area. Harvey J. Sims married Florence Katherine Roos on October 29, 1902 and had two sons: Kenneth James and William Harvey respectively. After Florence's death in 1938 Harvey married again, to Gay Estill. Harvey J. Sims died June 8, 1945.