Keep looking up!
Those are the words with which Jack Horkheimer ended his Star Hustler/Star Gazer astronomy featurettes on public television for 30 years. He delighted and inspired PBS audiences with his eccentric style and his obvious enthusiasm for his subject, the night skies.
He died last Friday. The Miami Sun-Sentinel has a fine obituary:
Born Foley Arthur Horkheimer on June 11, 1938, he grew up in Wisconsin, where he began a promising career as a jazz organist, nightclub entertainer, actor and playwright.
He came to Miami in 1964 after studying pre-med and theater at Purdue University. Doctors had recommended a warm, humid climate for a degenerative lung condition that plagued him all his life.
His father was mayor of Randolph, Wisc., for 24 years, and wanted his son to become an athlete — impossible due to his health.
He was director of the Miami Museum of Science and Space Transit Planetarium for 35 years and is credited with saving that institution. But he is known to millions more as the quirky little guy with the bad toupee who fascinated all of us with naked eye astronomy.
I remember this wonderful intelligent man. As a child i received much love and understanding from him and his family. Although i spent only a few moments in my early years living next door to his parents i have always kept these memories. When i needed shelter food transportation and spiritual guidance he and his family provided to me and my family.