Koop to Join Ex-CSUN Professor at Signing

Dr. C. Everett Koop, U.S. surgeon general during the Reagan and Bush administrations, will visit Cal State Northridge Friday, joining former professor Robert C. Horn in a noon book signing.

Horn’s book, “How Will They Know if I’m Dead?” is an account of his and his family’s struggle with Lou Gehrig’s disease. Koop wrote the preface to the book.

The disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, was named after the New York Yankees baseball great who was its most famous victim. ALS is a nervous-system disorder that causes a gradual weakening and wasting away of muscles. Treatment of ALS is limited and it is considered a terminal illness.

Horn was a professor in Northridge’s political science department and a well-known authority on the former Soviet Union as well as U.S. foreign policy in the Third World. Five years ago Horn was forced to resign from his teaching duties due to his illness.

“To simply say that professor Horn is an inspiration would be trivializing the word,” said Sylvia Snowiss, a CSUN professor of political science. “He has meant much more to us than that.”

Snowiss and the political science department are sponsoring the book signing, which will be held in the Grand Salon at the university’s Student Union.

“We not only wanted to celebrate Robert’s book, but to honor him as a human being as well,” Snowiss said.

In spite of his illness, Horn still writes and maintains contact with his former students and colleagues.

The book signing is free to the public. Parking for the event is at Lot C on the east side of the Northridge campus, off of Zelzah Avenue. The parking fee is $1.75.

For more information, call the university’s political science department at (818) 677-3488.