Biography

June 11, 1938 · Randolph, Wisconsin, USA

August 20, 2010 · Miami, Florida, USA (respiratory problems)

Foley Arthur Horkheimer

Suffered from congenital lung disease that went undiagnosed until he was 18 and left him in tremendous pain. His lungs continued to deteriorate, and in 1964, he moved to Miami, expecting he would soon die. A chance meeting with an astronomer and a visit to a planetarium gave him a new lease on life. He soon went to work for what became the Miami Space Transit Planetarium, serving as its director from 1973 until his retirement in 2008.

Trained as a playwright, earning a bachelor's degree in drama from Purdue University in 1963.

Amateur astronomer who created and hosted the long-running weekly public television segment "Star Gazer". Director of the Miami Science Museum and Space Transit Planetarium from 1972-2007.

[From a 1982 profile in the Miami Herald]: Stargazing is all about where you are in time and space. The reason people get out their telescopes and attend star parties is because they are trying to peer out over the horizon to find their place in the universe. If I can help them find that, that's all that matters.

[Catchphrase with which he opened each episode of Jack Horkheimer: Star Hustler (1976)]: Greetings, greetings, fellow star gazers!