John E. Horner

Dr. John Edward Horner

Dr. John Edward Horner died Feb. 13, 2014. Born Dec. 12, 1921, he was the youngest of six children of Estelle and William J. Horner. A native of New Jersey, Dr. Horner was raised in Brookside, N.J., and graduated from Morristown High School. He graduated with honors and Phi Beta Kappa inclusion from Drew University, where he received All-American honors in basketball, as well as being a four-year letterman in baseball. He served in the Special Services of the U.S. Air Corps in World War II. Advanced degrees were conferred by Columbia University (M.A.) and The Ohio State University (Ph.D.). He also received 10 honorary degrees from colleges and universities nationwide.

Dr. Horner's professional career began with a teaching and coaching assignment at Morristown High School. An early Fulbright Scholar, he studied in the late 1940s at the American Academy in Rome and the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, and he taught in London. Subsequent university assignments took him to Drew University, Kansas Wesleyan University, Ohio State University and the University of Omaha. In 1958, at age 36, he was appointed president of Hanover College in Hanover, Ind., where he served until 1987. During his tenure, the curriculum was completely revised with the Hanover Plan in 1962. The plan divided the academic year into two 14-week terms and a five-week spring term, during which students took one course of specialized, intensive study. The plan was adopted by many colleges and universities. More than a dozen buildings and facilities were constructed on the 650-acre campus overlooking the Ohio River, all without debt or governmental assistance. Library holdings were augmented tenfold. The college endowment was greatly increased and several overseas studies programs were initiated. Perhaps his greatest achievement was the reconstruction of the campus after a tornado on April 3, 1974.

Dr. Horner said that his greatest success was the graduation of more than seven generations of students who went into the world as capable and contributing adults. Dr. Horner provided leadership to many civil and professional organizations at the state and national levels. He served as president and chairman of the Associated Colleges of Indiana, Presbyterian College Union, Indiana State Scholarship Commission, Indiana Conference for Higher Education and Indiana State Library and Historical Board. He was twice named as an Indiana Sagamore of the Wabash and also named a Kentucky Colonel, for service to those states. Locally, he was a founding member of Historic Madison and served on the board of directors. A highlight during his career was being on the "short list" of candidates to become the first secretary of education under President Ronald Reagan.

In retirement in North Carolina, he was a dedicated golfer. He remained a voracious reader of historical biographies. He and his wife, Anne, traveled to all of the continents. He was a member of the Trinity Avenue Presbyterian Church, was a participant in many laboratory studies for the Duke Department of Aging and for the Aged and served briefly on the Durham County library board. He was a loyal supporter of Duke University athletics.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister and four brothers and a son, Jeffrey. Survivors include his wife of more than six decades, Anne Evans Horner; daughter Joanne Woerner and her daughter, Jill, of Providence, R.I.; daughter-in-law Laurie Horner and her three children, Alec, Emily and John Cameron of Houston; daughter Heather Hohlt, her husband, Dwayne, and their children Paige and Drew of Spring, Texas; and son Scott, his wife, Jennifer, and their son, Thomas, of Indianapolis.

In lieu of flowers, if so desired, memorials may be made to the John E. Horner Scholarship Fund of Hanover College in Hanover, the Hanover Presbyterian Church or the Trinity Avenue Presbyterian Church Building Fund in Durham, N.C. Condolences may be left at http://www.Hanover.edu