Edmund C. Horman (April 15, 1906 – April 16, 1993) was an American businessman who flew to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

in 1973 in search of his son, Charles Horman, knowing that soldiers had seized him, but unaware that he had been shot dead by the Chilean military forces under General Augusto Pinochet, during their coup against President

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...

Biography

Horman was born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, and had studied at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. Horman worked in engineering and industrial design and owned Jersey Industrial Trucks. He was married to Elizabeth Lazar from 1940 until his death. Horman was also the father-in-law of Joyce Horman. Horman died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

at New York City's Mount Sinai Hospital on 16 April, 1993. He was 87.

Search for Charles Horman

Horman's search for his son, Charles, was depicted in Thomas Hauser's 1979 book ''The Execution of Charles Horman: An American Sacrifice'', which was then adapted into the 1982

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning Costa Gavras film, '' Missing'', in which Horman was portrayed by Jack Lemmon. After forcefully overthrowing the duly-elected socialist government of Dr. Salvador Allende Gossens, the military rounded up thousand of suspected enemies and prisoners of the Pinochet coup, and confined them at the

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

. During his search, Horman was able to gain entry to the stadium. Through a bullhorn, the senior Horman called out; "Charles Horman, I hope you are out there. This is your father speaking. If you hear me, please - come forward. You have nothing to fear." There was no response. By this time, Charles had already been dead for 3 weeks, Horman would later learn. Horman's frustration in dealing with

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

authorities, grew, after finding out they had failed to try and protect Charles, after they'd learned of his arrest, and Horman accused them of covering up their failure to do anything. Horman turned the anguish and tragedy of losing his son into a crusade for human-rights issues. Horman testified at hearings, and spoke to conferences in both the United States and internationally. "I'm not interested in revenge," Horman said. "What can revenge do? I don't want this to happen to any American citizens, again."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Horman, Edmund 1906 births 1993 deaths Columbia University alumni Deaths from pneumonia in New York City 20th-century American businesspeople Political repression in Chile during the military government (1973–1990) People from Manhattan