May 23, 2001 - When Bernard Horowitz passed away on March 3 at the age of 74, he was just weeks away from earning his master's degree in special education from the Rockland Graduate Campus of Long Island University. On May 23, School of Education Dean Jeffrey Kane and Provost Joseph Shenker will award that degree posthumously to Horowitz' widow, Ada, at her home in Rockland County.

"I'm very proud of him," said Mrs. Horowitz of her late husband. "The fact that they are willing to come and give me the degree, I'm so moved by that."

Bernie Horowitz came to teaching late in life. He already had four careers by the time he enrolled in Rockland Community College in 1993 with a major in sociology. He earned his associate's degree in 1995 and went on to Columbia University's School of General Studies, where he majored in art history and minored in sociological studies. He had attended Columbia full-time from 1949 to 1952 and part-time from 1956 to 1960. Although family obligations forced him to withdraw, the dream of earning a college degree remained strong through the years, even as he and his wife raised three sons and welcomed two grandchildren and one great-grandson.

Horowitz left high school in 1943 to join the U.S. Coast Guard. He served during World War II, and was honorably discharged in 1946. He then worked part-time as a picture framer while attending night school. When he earned his high school diploma in 1947, he went to work full-time as a picture framer, fitter and picture hanger. He continued in this line of work until 1965, when he joined Ramapo Valley Airport as a dispatcher.

It was then that Horowitz pursued another dream - to become a pilot. He took lessons and eventually qualified as a flight instructor for private and commercial pilots. In 1972, he switched to part-time employment at Ramapo and joined Electronic Devices Inc., as a part-time pilot. When Electronic Devices was sold to a Chinese firm, he decided to go back to school and do some volunteer work. Working at Camp Venture, a camp for disabled children, convinced him to pursue a career in special education.

"He had this whole other life that we didn't even know about," said Lisa Coppola, academic advisor at the Rockland Graduate Campus of Long Island University in Orangeburg. "He had a career as a pilot, and it was very interesting. Then he just decided that coming back and getting a degree in special ed and being in the classroom would be very fulfilling to him."

Until the time of his death, Horowitz was doing his student teaching with special needs children in the Rockland school district. He was scheduled to take his comprehensive teacher certification exams just days after he died. His perseverance had a profound effect on his professors, advisors and fellow students, as well as on the young students he taught. Ada Horowitz said that every one of his students wrote to her about the impact he had on their lives.

"There was a teacher inside him all along," she said. "He really made a difference with these kids; he had such patience with them. He found his niche."