Ed Horne

News Obituary Article

MARIETTA: Ed Horne, ex-agent for FBI, 'bridge builder'

By J.E. GESHWILER

As an FBI special agent for 22 years, Ed Horne often worked at undercover investigations and became expert at it. When the FBI handed him a delicate, high-visibility assignment, he proved himself every bit as capable.

"It took a special personality to handle both kinds of duties, and Ed had it," said Bill Hinshaw, of Grayson, former special agent in charge of the Atlanta FBI office.

"Ed was so good at undercover work that he lectured at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., on the subject. He also sat on FBI panels that evaluated the effectiveness of secret agency operations, and he helped write the selection criteria and guidelines for undercover agents."

In 1989, he was selected to be the FBI liaison to the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission. It was a sensitive position given the mistrust the King family felt after FBI probes of the civil rights leader during the J. Edgar Hoover era.

"Ed was the right man to represent the FBI," said Ted Jackson of Alpharetta, the current Atlanta special agent in charge. "Thanks to the relationship he established with the King family, Coretta Scott King even spoke at FBI headquarters as part of a Black History Month program for senior managers."

"Ed was a bridge builder," said Georgia Supreme Court Justice Robert Benham of Cartersville. "He helped dispel apprehension and mistrust between the FBI and African-American community leaders. Ed had a remarkable sense of fairness and tried to understand points of view that were different from his."

The funeral for Mr. Horne, 62, of Marietta is 11 a.m. today at Mount Paran Church of God North. He died Friday at St. Joseph's Hospital after a heart attack. Hanley-Shelton, Marietta, is charge of arrangements.

Mr. Horne served 12 years in the U.S. Air Force's Office of Special Investigations, assigned to bases in Europe, North Africa and Asia.

After his retirement from the FBI in 1997, he established a security firm, Horne & Associates, that did investigative work for Exxon-Mobil in Africa.

"Ed devoted a lot of time to the men's program at our church, said his wife, Ann Horne. "He belonged to Men of Acts, who donated their services to the elderly poor, working on weekends to mow their grass and do maintenance and repair jobs around their houses. Ed didn't know plumbing or electrical work, but he could wield a paint brush."

Survivors include a daughter, Michelle Horne of Marietta; a son, Derek Horne of New Orleans; four sisters, Joan Bivins and Cornelia Ambres, both of Marietta, and Ollie Weaver and Edna Ragland, both of Florence, Ala.; a brother, Roy Horne of Chicago; and one granddaughter.

© 2003 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution