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 western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

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 socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 1970 until Death of Salvador Allende, his death in 1973 Chilean coup d'état, 1973. As a ...

. He later became a human rights activist and public speaker, and is portrayed by

Jack Lemmon John Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. Considered proficient in both dramatic and comic roles, he was known for his anxious, middle-class everyman screen persona in comedy-drama films. He received num ...

in the 1982

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winning

Costa Gavras Konstantinos "Kostas" Gavras (; born 12 February 1933), known professionally as Costa-Gavras, is a Greek-French film director, screenwriter, and producer who lives and works in France. He is known for political films, such as the political thril ...

film, ''

Missing Missing or The Missing may refer to: Film * ''Missing'' (1918 film), an American silent drama directed by James Young * ''Missing'' (1982 film), an American historical drama directed by Costa-Gavras about the 1973 coup in Chile *, a Belgian film ...

''.

Biography

Horman was born in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, and had studied at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. Horman lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and 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 Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

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 Thomas C. Hauser (born February 27, 1946) is an American author known for his biographies and novels and writing about boxing. Biography Hauser graduated from Mamaroneck High School in 1963, Columbia College in 1967 and Columbia Law School i ...

's 1979 book ''The Execution of Charles Horman: An American Sacrifice'', which was then adapted into the 1982

-winning

film, ''

'', in which Horman was portrayed by

. After forcefully overthrowing the duly-elected

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

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 ...

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

. 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 (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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." Horman encouraged Joyce Horman, Charles Horman's wife, to write about what happened, and the two went on speaking tours to discuss the movie and the events surrounding it. He also participated in human rights conferences along with Joyce and his wife Elizabeth, who both lived to see Pinochet's arrest in 1998.

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) Businesspeople from Manhattan American Christian Scientists American human rights activists American public speakers