Horn was best known in the Long Beach area for her work in education and the arts. She was an essential partner with her husband, the late Steve Horn, in his career both as president of CSULB (1970-1988) and as a member of Congress (1993-2003).
At CSULB, she was instrumental in attracting community support to the campus and played a significant role in cultivating many major gifts, including the Isabel Patterson Child Development Center, the President’s Home, the International House, the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden and the Martha Knoebel Dance Theater. She was also very active with the Fine Arts Affiliates and the International Community Council.
In the community, she chaired the Long Beach Unified School District’s 100-member committee that proposed desegregation guidelines and the magnet school plan in 1979. She served for 10 years on the Long Beach Unified School District’s Personnel Commission.
She was president of Long Beach’s Public Corporation for the Arts and led the effort in 1984 that persuaded the City Council to provide funds through the Arts Council for Long Beach arts organizations. She also served on the boards of the California Community Foundation, the Greater Long Beach Community Foundation, Family Service of Long Beach, and the Todd Cancer Institute at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, among other civic organizations.
Her role in her husband’s political career was also critical. Her friends represented most of the volunteers that powered an all-volunteer campaign that won five elections. After Steve was elected, she worked in the office each day as a volunteer and escorted thousands of visitors around the U.S. Capitol and to the White House.
In 2003, her work on behalf of CSULB and in the community was honored when the university’s North Campus Library was renamed the Steve and Nini Horn Center by the Trustees of the California State University.
She grew up in Lodi, California, graduated with distinction in history and the humanities from Stanford University in 1953, and received a certificate from the Program in Business Administration of Radcliffe College/Harvard Business School in 1954 (prior to the formal admission of women to the Harvard Business School).
The family suggests that, in lieu of flowers, any contributions in her honor may be made to three organizations she strongly supported for many years:
• CSULB College of the Arts, c/o University Foundation, CSULB, 6300 State University Dr., Suite 332, Long Beach, CA 90840. csulb.edu/divisions/urad
• Todd Cancer Institute, c/o Long Beach Memorial Medical Center Foundation, 2801 Atlantic Ave., P. O. Box, 1428, Long Beach, CA 90801-1428. lbmmcf.org
• The Long Beach Community Foundation, 400 Oceangate, Suite 800, Long Beach, CA 90802. longbeachcf.org
The remembrance will begin at 5pm and will be followed by a reception with light refreshments.
Those wishing to attend the Celebration of Life are asked to RSVP to Noemi Guevara at (562) 985-7536 or noemi.guevara@csulb.edu. Parking for the event will be provided free of charge in Parking Lot 3 adjacent to the Steve and Nini Horn Center.
