On a sweltering June afternoon, the sun beats down on a dingy faux-Frank Lloyd Wright house in upscale Pinecrest. A jungle of untrimmed trees and plants chokes the yard. Inside, half-packed boxes clog the rooms and hallways.
Ancient Etruscan statues and Greek artifacts that once lined the walls are gone. The main bedroom is pitch black, the curtains pulled tight. In the darkness, the only sound is a long, painful wheeze.
Aside from his famous mustache, Jack Horkheimer is nearly unrecognizable. The 72-year-old astronomer from Star Gazer — a weekly TV series watched by millions of viewers for decades — lies on an inclined electric bed in nothing but a soiled diaper. The room stinks.
Dirty tissues cover the floor. Slowly, he fumbles for the phone and dials a friend. “Save me,” he pleads. “Save me.”
When help arrives an hour later, Horkheimer mumbles about Satan and past sins. He screams that nobody should open the curtains because “neighbors will throw stones through the window.” The man who spent his life telling children to “keep looking up” at the stars is now afraid of the outside world.
But Horkheimer’s hellish last months were just beginning. Three weeks later, a man claiming he was forced to receive oral sex from Horkheimer as a 15-year-old sued in Miami-Dade County court, demanding $5 million.
A process server chased the ailing astronomer through five hospitals and assisted living centers. Even when Horkheimer died on August 20 in Homestead of lifelong lung problems, the drama didn’t end
Where did the Greek artifacts go?
Bill Whittle, a Pj Media commentator , who created the Afterburner three minute videos, was a close friend of Jack Horkheimer. At the age of 13 Jack taught him how to run his Planetarium. Whittle had only good things to say about Jack.