Arthur Michael Horowitz

Arthur Michael Horowitz, 73, a recent resident of New Orleans and a longtime resident of Southern California, died Saturday.   He was a tenured professor of theater history at Pomona College, part of the Claremont Consortium of colleges in California.

Art was an extraordinarily gifted teacher.   He began teaching English on the middle school level after his graduation from Hofstra College and remained there for 20 years.   He then returned to school and received a Ph.D. from the University of California at Davis.  His dissertation was published in book form in 2004 as “Shakespeare’s True Preservers:  Yukio Ninagawa,  Peter Brook,  and Giorgio Strehler.  20th century directors approach Shakespeare’s  The Tempest.”  He was most recently searching the impact and relationship of Italian playwright Goldoni on Chekhov.

At Pomona College he directed several plays and headed the Watson Committee, proposing students for a prestigious one-year travel and research fellowship.  During his tenure, Pomona students often received at least one —and often two — Watson Fellowships.

However, he was very far from being a dry academic.   He had a profound appreciation for good food and restaurants, a sardonic and ribald sense of humor, and a deep and abiding passion for basketball and baseball.     He often said that his boyhood was irrevocably shaken when the Dodgers left Brooklyn.  He is survived by his wife of 28 years, Carol Bixler, and their menagerie of 8 cats and a dog, all rescues.  He is also survived by the hundreds of students whose lives and careers he impacted.

Visitation Service will be held on Thursday, June 21, 2018 from 9:00 am until 10:15 am at Tharp-Sontheimer-Tharp, 1600 N. Causeway Blvd. Graveside Service will follow at 10:45 am in Hebrew Rest Cemetery III, Frenchman and Pelopidas. Rabbi Todd Silverman Officiating. Condolences may be expressed online at www.tharpsontheimerfh.com. Information 504-835-2341. Donations preferred to Posse Foundation, Pomona College Academy for Youth Success (PAYS) Program or Hole in the Wall Gang.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Arthur Michael Horowitz, please visit our floral store.