Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

Alan S. Horowitz 1930-1999

Written by N. Gary Lane and Donald E. Hattin

Alan S. Horowitz, 68, a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, died on February 18, 1999, in Bloomington, Indiana, after a protracted battle with leukemia. Not unexpectedly, he continued pursuit of his many research interests until just a few weeks before he passed away.

The last 31 years of Alan’s career, spent at Indiana University, were characterized by quiet devotion to his paleontological studies, punctuated by teaching activities that evinced mastery of a surprisingly wide range of disciplines within the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences. His willingness to help students with their research projects, and to share his expertise with peers, marked Alan as a very special kind of colleague, at once caring, patient, selfless, and generous with his time.

Alan was born in Ashland, Kentucky, on June 12, 1930, the eldest son of three children of Samuel and Irene Strous Horowitz. As a child, Alan was fascinated by many varieties of rocks and fossils brought home from work by his father, who worked as a railroad weighmaster. One of Alan’s Ashland junior-high classmates recalls a date on which he took her to the Horowitz home so that she could view his rock collection! Early on, Alan also developed a keen interest in birds, which were to become another lifelong fascination. In high school, Alan was a member of the Boy Scouts of America, and rose to the rank of Eagle Scout.

In 1948, Alan entered Washington and Lee University, where he became a member of Phi Beta Kappa and earned a B.S. degree in 1952. In the fall of that year, he undertook graduate studies at The Ohio State University, where he earned a master’s degree in 1953. His thesis entailed study of an igneous rock complex in northeastern Greenland, which was the first of many foreign lands that he would visit in connection with later paleontologic research. In the fall of 1954, Alan entered the doctoral program at Indiana University, where his mentor, T. G. Perry, influenced Alan’s decision to embark on what was to become a lifelong study of bryozoans. Alan’s doctoral dissertation, a faunal study of the Chesterian Glen Dean Limestone, served as the basis for several publications concerned with crinoids, brachiopods, and bryozoans of that formation. He was awarded the Ph.D. degree in 1957.

Upon completion of his doctoral studies, Alan took a position as a research geologist with Marathon Oil Company at their new research center in Littleton, Colorado. He served as paleontologist on a team of geologists who were using innovative approaches to the study of carbonate rocks and sedimentation and included such leaders as Lloyd Pray, Jack Wray, and Chuck Hewitt, to name a few. It was during these years that Alan gained expertise in the use of digital computers, which factored strongly in the next phase of his professional life.

In 1966, Alan left Marathon and returned to the Department of Geology at Indiana University, where he assumed the newly created position Curator of Paleontology—a position that included a generous allowance of time for personal research. Later, Alan was named senior research geologist and part-time professor of geology. Thus, in addition to his curatorial and research activities, he taught for many semesters, including courses in taxonomic procedures and, with J. Robert Dodd, a team-taught course on carbonate petrology. Because Alan was quantitatively inclined, he also taught a variety of statistical procedures, matrix algebra, and other mathematics courses to a long list of grateful graduate students. He also served on numerous masters and doctoral committees.

Although Alan retired from Indiana University in 1996, he continued to maintain an office in the geology department and to carry on his research in Paleozoic fossils. Alan’s expertise centered on geology of Indiana and the south-central and southeastern United States, with specialization on stratigraphy and fossils of Late Mississippian (Chesterian)age. He engaged in much field work in the eastern interior and southern Appalachians (Alabama and Georgia), collecting crinoids and blastoids and, with Brad Macurda, participated in many additional collecting trips to areas of Burlington Limestone outcrop in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. All who accompanied Alan on such trips remember with smiles the ever-present sunshade, many-pocketed collecting jacket, knee pads and, most notably, the square cardboard blinders he attached to his glasses to protect his very light sensitive eyes and avoid peripheral distractions!

Alan’s primary areas of research, especially in later years, involved stratigraphic and taxonomic analysis of blastoids, undertaken jointly with Johnny A. Waters, and bryozoans, much of which work was carried out with colleague Joseph Pachut. Alan amassed a large database of bryozoans, including very detailed, critical evaluation of species and stratigraphic placement—work representing three decades of seemingly tireless effort. Devonian and recent bryozoans were treated most extensively, and the databases were made available on disk to all who requested them. Additionally, Alan collaborated with James Stratton on studies of fenestrate bryozoans, coauthored with Paul E. Potter a widely praised book on thin-section petrography of skeletal fossils, and with John B. Droste coauthored several papers on subsurface stratigraphy of Indiana. Alan was author or coauthor of 53 papers, 57 abstracts, one field-trip guidebook, five bulletins and monographs, and one book.

He was a member of many scientific and scholarly organizations. He was a recognized bibliophile, having accumulated a library of more than 3,500 books as well as hundreds of reprints and maps. Alan received research grants from the National Science Foundation and the Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society. In 1971–1972 he was visiting professor at Aarhus University in Denmark. He attended many meetings of the International Carboniferous Congress and of the International Bryozoological Association. In 1996, he received the Owen Award, presented each year to a distinguished alumnus of the Indiana University Department of Geological Sciences.

In 1975, Alan married Lillian Perry, widow of his doctoral mentor. She preceded him in death in 1992. He is survived by two sisters, Carol Picker of Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, and Ann Itkin of Brookland, New York, as well as by four stepchildren—Paula Jarret, Peter Perry, Michael Perry, and John Perry—and by 12 step grandchildren.

Aside from his excellence as a scientist, Alan will be remembered for the breadth of his intellect, wry sense of humor, and generosity to those who needed his help. His unassuming, almost reclusive manner masked the extent of his accomplishments and the value of his friend-ship. He will be missed by all who knew and worked with him.