Jack Horkheimer
| Jack Horkheimer | |
|---|---|
| Born | Foley Arthur Horkheimer June 11, 1938 Randolph, Wisconsin, United States |
| Died | August 20, 2010 (aged 72) Miami, Florida, United States |
| Residence | Miami, Florida |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Fields | Astronomy |
| Institutions | Miami Science Museum |
| Alma mater | Purdue University |
| Known for | Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer |
| Notable awards | Asteroid 11409 Horkheimer |
Jack Horkheimer (born Foley Arthur Horkheimer; June 11, 1938 – August 20, 2010) was the executive director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium. He was best known for his astronomy show Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer, which started airing on PBS on November 4, 1976.
Jack Horkheimer was born in 1938 to a wealthy family in Randolph, Wisconsin, the son of Mary Edmunda (née Foley) and Arthur Philip Horkheimer. His father owned a publishing firm and was the mayor of Randolph for 24 years. Horkheimer started his show business career in 1953 at the age of 15 when he hosted a radio show on WBEV. In 1956, he graduated from Campion Jesuit High School.
During the summers away from college, he travelled the country playing jazz on the piano and organ under the name "Horky". His agents at the Artists Corporation of America ended up giving him the stage name "Jack Foley". He later changed this to "Jack Foley Horkheimer". He graduated from Purdue University with a bachelor of science degree in 1963 as a distinguished scholar.
He moved to Miami, Florida, in 1964 for health reasons and began volunteering at the Miami Science Museum planetarium. He later became its director in 1973.
Horkheimer started his astronomy career in 1964, when he was 26, after he moved to Miami and met astronomer Arthur Smith. Smith was the president of the Miami Museum of Science and the chief of the Southern Cross Astronomical Society. Horkheimer started volunteering at the planetarium writing shows and was later offered a position with the museum.
Smith asked Horkheimer to run the Miami Space Transit Planetarium when it opened in 1966. Horkheimer's shows were successful and the planetarium went from losing money to becoming profitable. Horkheimer worked his way up to become the planetarium's educational director and eventually the executive director.
Horkheimer changed the planetarium show from a science lecture to a multimedia event including music, lights and narration. He created the Child of the Universe show for the planetarium in 1972, which became famous and used in other planetariums across the country.Sally Jessy Raphael portrayed the voice of the solar system in this show. The show won an international award from the society of European astronomers in 1976. Horkheimer became the executive director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium in 1973 and stayed there for 35 years until his retirement in 2008.
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