“One word to describe Harold is legend,” said Kaleb Lynch, Catman2’s shelter director and close friend of the late Sims.
This legacy of Dr. Harold “Catman” Sims Jr. lives on in Western North Carolina through Catman2 and the American Museum of the House Cat.
Lynch and others have organized a tribute for Sims April 5 at the American Museum of the House Cat. The date lines up with Sims’ 90th birthday and two-year anniversary of the opening of the American Museum of the House Cat in its permanent location. Anyone is invited to this tribute to celebrate Sims’ life and work.
“He was full of ideas. The man’s brain never stopped. And he would be constantly thinking of things and if he had an idea at like two in the morning, then he’d be up on his computer, typing a bunch of stuff about it and trying to figure out a way to make it happen tomorrow,” Lynch said. “He was a very motivated individual, a free thinker, he was never one to go with the crowd.”
This motivation and love of cats inspired Sims to pursue opening a cat shelter and museum after retiring from his job as a biology professor.
Sims built the building housing Catman2 by hand with Jack Nowlin, a retired contractor and friend. Sims’ vision for Catman2 was very different from the traditional shelter. Sims wanted to create a space for cats to roam free, without being held in cages. The shelter contains multiple cat rooms with open access cat patios so the cats can enjoy the fresh air.
“He was very adamant about not jailing a cat, imprisoning a cat in a cage for longer than necessary for any unjust reason,” Lynch said.
The shelter opened in 2002, as the first no-kill shelter in Jackson County. It is also the first cat-only shelter in Jackson County. While most cats at Catman2 are available for adoption, there are some long-term resident cats who have made a home at the shelter.
“Cats did not have many options back when he first came on the scene and built this place. So now we have quite a community of cat lovers that support this place and just have fallen in love with cats in general,” Lynch said. “I just don’t think that enough people know the history of this place and how lucky we are to have it.”
The American Museum of the House Cat was Sims’ passion later in life. The museum contains over 30 years’ worth of Sims’ personally curated cat-related memorabilia. The museum is the largest of just two cat-themed museums in North America.
In 2017, the museum started in part of Sylva’s Old School Antique Mall. When the antique mall shut down, Sims moved the museum to a larger stand-alone building. After pandemic-related setbacks, the new and current location opened in 2022.
“He loved the real cats, but that museum was his pride and joy because that was one man’s collection, and he never spent a dime of anybody else’s money to buy that kind of stuff,” Lynch said.
Lynch does not anticipate either Catman2 or the American Museum of the House Cat to experience disruptions in operations after Sims’ passing.
“We have every intention of continuing his legacy of helping cats and of expanding the museum at some point,” Lynch said.
In addition to creating Catman2 and the American Museum of the House Cat, Sims was the author of multiple children’s books and “Cats Without Cages,” a nonfiction book sharing the story of Catman2’s creation.
