Rest in Peace to my father @horowitz39 . We love you Dad. David Joel Horowitz was born January 10, 1939 to Phil and Blanche Horowitz in Queens, New York. David was raised in Queens along with his sister Ruth. Phil and Blanche were high school teachers and members of the American Communist Party. Their lives included secret meetings, secret identities and a secret revolutionary plan. As such, they steeped David in Marxist philosophy and world affairs. We sometimes joked that he was the “Tiger Woods of Communism” as he was raised to be the Party’s next great player. He thought that was funny, because like Tiger he never had a choice in the matter. The impact of his upbringing was profound, but David's life would prove to be shaped by his own self-described irrational desire to “save the world.” While this impulse began as a highly abstract concept, David would spend a lifetime refining it, sharpening it, completely revising it and ultimately making it his life’s mission. David attended Bryant High School in Queens, NY. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University in 1959 majoring in English. He then earned a master's degree in English literature from University of California, Berkeley. In 1959, he instantly fell in love with and married Elissa Krauthamer. They would have four children: Jonathan Daniel, Sarah Rose, Benjamin Abraham, and Anne Deborah. In 1962, at 23 years old, David wrote and published his first book, Student, which detailed the political activities of students on the UC Berkeley campus. While at Berkeley, David became frustrated with his Shakespeare professor, so he wrote his own lecture series which he delivered and was widely attended by students all across the campus. He eventually published the series in his second book: Shakespeare: an Existential View. This superhuman confidence and ability to back it up would become thematic throughout David’s life. Later David and Elissa moved to London, England where David studied under Ralph Miliband and became close friends with Isaac Deutscher. Later David would write Deutscher’s biography. Also while in London, in 1965 David wrote The Free World Colossus: A Critique of American Foreign Policy in the Cold War, which became the book that made him a force on the new left. In 1968, David and Elissa moved the family back to the United States and purchased a home in Berkeley, California where they would raise their four children. In his continued mission to save the world, in 1968 David became co-editor of the new left magazine Ramparts. While at Ramparts, David developed a close friendship with Huey P. Newton, founder of the Black Panther Party. As part of their work together, David helped raise money for, and assisted the Panthers with, the running of a school for poor children in Oakland. He later recommended that Newton hire his friend Betty Van Patter as bookkeeper; she was then working for Ramparts. In December 1974, Van Patter's body was found floating in San Francisco Harbor; she had been murdered by the Panthers for knowing too much. The murder forced David to confront a truth that he had long suspected. It made clear to him that the pursuit of a marxist utopia was a false and unachievable goal. Diabolically, the goal created a religion. The religion then cloaked the movement’s leaders with an invincible moral standing enabling them to commit atrocities with impunity for their own gain. He was horrified that he had been part of it and it caused him to rethink his entire life. The decision was not easy. His family, friends, and career were all deeply tied to “the movement.” If he were to make this change, he would essentially need to start from scratch. So, he stayed away from politics for a while and changed to a neutral career. He became a biographer and journalist. It was a hugely risky move to change careers at 34 years old with a family of 6 in tow. In a testament to David’s supreme confidence, indomitable will and massive talent, he was an instant success. His first biography The Rockefeller’s An American Dynasty – written with his best friend and long time colleague Peter Collier – was a blockbuster bestseller. Their next biography The Kennedy’s An American Drama was an even bigger success becoming a number 1 New York Times bestseller. All the while, David kept an eye on and a hand in politics. While he needed a break to sort out his life, nothing in life would deter him from his mission. In 1981, San Francisco Chronicle writer Randy Schiltz tipped David and Peter to a potential epidemic known as AIDS, which was rapidly spreading through the bath houses in San Francisco. Schiltz was concerned that the leaders in the Gay Community were intimidating the medical establishment into covering up the way it was transmitted and therefore keeping the bath houses open, which would cause it to spread out of control . Randy was too terrified to write about it himself as he did not want to be attacked by the community. David, never one to fear anything, took on the story. In 1981, he and Peter published Whitewash: Gay Leaders in California Have Obscured Vital Information About How the AIDS Disease Spreads. The aggressive reaction to the story (references to the article still call David a “homophobe”) reinforced David’s suspicions. If leaders on the left were willing to sacrifice millions of gay lives to preserve their power and orthodoxy, what wouldn’t they do? The article, the experience, and the ocean of death that followed were the final straw in David’s conversion from his Marxist roots to a leading thinker on the right. He formalized his position on March 17, 1985 when he and Peter published Lefties for Reagan in The Washington Post. David departed the left for good. The change would cost him nearly everything – all of his friends, coverage in the New York Times Book Review (essential for authors at the time), and countless lost earnings. He would have to start all over. But if the world needed saving from his former comrades on the left, that’s exactly what he would do. Later he would note that the right never excommunicated apostates the way he had been abandoned by the left. He often complained that he had “the rescue gene.” For David, this meant nothing animated him more than someone in need of help. He would instantly leap into action, making every phone call, raising every dollar, and doing anything in his power to save that person. The realization that he had been party to the destructive force activated his rescue gene and infused him with an energy that would produce dozens of books, countless public appearances, and nearly nonstop work for the next 4 decades. In 1996, he captured this saga in his autobiography Radical Son: A Generational Odyssey where he retraced his life’s and political journey. 1998 proved to be a seminal year for David when he met his angel April Mullivain whom he would marry and who, along with her son John Jay, would watch over him until his passing. In 1998, he also founded The Horowitz Freedom Center, where he recruited an inspired group of new young intellectuals to join his cause. The name “Freedom Center” meant much more than most ever understood. While David became known for his change in views, in a sense he never changed at all. His personal style represented the place and community from which he came. Even when he wore a suit, he looked like a radical forced into it due to a court date or a wedding. More importantly, his mission to save the world centered around freedom. When David went to rescue people, it was always from oppression imposed by some person or group. Early on, he had been trained to think the rich capitalists were the oppressors. His political change came from the realization that his side was doing the oppressing. Protected by the guise of being “for the people”, the Panthers took Betty’s life. The progressives left millions to die of AIDS, so they could preserve their leadership positions. His former friends on the left brutally excommunicated him from all their social relationships to reign power over him. It became clear that to fight for freedom, he had to be on the right and so the Freedom Center was born. From the Freedom Center, he published thousands of high impact articles and books. He understood the systematic implications of seemingly benign cultural changes and used that knowledge to predict much of the future. Notably, he precisely forecast the intense campus antisemitism of 2024 in his book The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America published in 2006. In 2007, David was crushed by the passing of his beloved daughter Sarah Rose who, more than any of his other children, inherited his indomitable spirit and passion for politics. She had finally succumbed to long-time chronic degeneration from her genetic condition Turner’s Syndrome. He captured the experience in his most intimate and perhaps his best book A Cracking of the Heart in 2009. By the twenty teens, David had long been frustrated by what he referred to as the “soft, gentlemanly” tactics of the Republican Party. He lamented that the Republicans were bringing a nerf gun to a nuclear war. He intimately knew the left’s tactics and desperately wanted his party to match them. His wish was granted when a new kind of candidate, Donald J. Trump, won the Republican nomination. David responded instantly with the best articulation of the Trump strategy in Big Agenda: President Trump's Plan to Save America. Later, in 2024, his son Benjamin would meet President Trump and mention David. President Trump’s face immediately lit up and he insisted that Benjamin get David on the phone immediately. Hospitalized and weak, David was still delighted to speak with the President and know that his message was heard and heeded. In 2024, David published America Betrayed: How a Christian Monk Created America & Why the Left Is Determined to Destroy Her. In it, he carefully explained how the Catholic Church – through the indulgences – had removed the freedom inherent in being accountable to God and replaced them with the oppression of being accountable to the church. He then explained how that same idea had come back into vogue in the U.S. Right up until the final moments, David fought for freedom. In the end, David helped countless people and expended every fiber of his being pushing society towards freedom. He may not have saved the world, but he most certainly made it a better place – especially for us. He was our super hero and we will love him forever.

NAS is literally the Ambassador of Hip Hop. He’s been doing amazing things for legends & the culture for years.

You have to go back to the pre-a16z days to see Horowitz Andreesseen (that was their angel investing entity)!

Horowitz Andreessen Academy raised $42M from investors including @adamdangelo, @Tobi Lütke, Tony Xu (@t_xu), Fidji Simo (@fidjissimo) & Shyam Sankar (@ssankar). Why? No student is going to enroll in a school that might run out of runway in 18 months. “Instead of raising for 18 months, we raised for a few years. This was very intentional because there's a big difference between starting a school & starting an AI app, & one of the biggest differences is you need longevity.” “As a student, you have to know that this school isn't going to run out of money.” “One of the simple reasons for raising $42 million is to say, ‘Hey, we have enough money to operate. In fact, we have enough money, we think, to get to profitability on the school.’”

Love seeing this. 👏 This will have a profound impact on the students who attend. The world is moving so fast and traditional education will struggle to stay relevant. I’ve been building an AI tutor inserted into a stuffed animal for my 5yr old. It fills in the gaps of what school is missing.

New era, new school piped.video/5JEjv-JlYo8?si=83aG…

BREAKING: a16z Launches The Horowitz Andreessen Academy with $42M in Funding Yes, a school. The Academy is an unaccredited, residential alternative to a 4-year degree in San Francisco, led by Founder & CEO Gagan Biyani (@gaganbiyani) (Udemy, Maven). Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) & Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) are on the board. Investors include Adam D'Angelo, Tobi Lütke, Tony Xu, Fidji Simo & Shyam Sankar. Applications open today for a Founding Class of roughly 50 students, starting Fall 2027. 1 year, no tuition, admitted on proof of work. Anthropic, Anduril, Coinbase, Meta, NVIDIA, OpenAI, Palantir, Replit & Stripe are Founding Partners, with 30+ hiring partners behind them. We cover: › The $42M raise and the runway behind it › Portfolios, interviews and IQ testing in admissions › 75% to 80% project time and weekly pod check-ins › Tuition, partnerships and equity as the 3 revenue lines › Why the Academy is telling fundable 17-year-olds to wait "The big difference between going to the academy and going to college is we are not gonna prioritize your grades. We're gonna prioritize proof of work." 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Gagan Biyani, Founder & CEO of Horowitz Andreessen Academy (01:01) Why this Academy is different from college (04:44) Started his first company at age 13 (08:30) Building a school for Silicon Valley (11:55) Raising $40M for a School (14:06) "You Did What?" - Proof of work over grades (19:08) Should young builders really start companies? (22:37) Why this is different from YC and fellowships (27:35) The Academy is for young builders (31:33) Why schools need to embrace AI (37:18) How AI is changing education (44:17) What an AI-native curriculum looks like (48:51) Why high-agency students struggle in college (53:12) Why the best builders zigzag (1:02:19) Why you should apply even if you don't get in (1:04:36) Building a supportive environment for young builders (1:08:54) What the Academy program looks like (1:10:44) Why the Academy is in San Francisco (1:11:19) The people who shaped Gagan (1:14:41) Favorite book!

The future will not be the same as the present and we need a new way to prepare for it

Yes! Time to pay it back!

Extremely excited for my friend @gaganbiyani! The Horowitz Andreessen Academy has a chance to meaningfully impact the evolution of education, something Gagan has been working on for almost 20 years! Good luck on your partnership with @bhorowitz, @pmarca & @a16z!

For the kids . . .

Introducing The Horowitz Andreessen Academy.

RT @CWMonieHQ: Nas is helping make sure hip-hop’s pioneers are finally being compensated for the value they brought to the culture. Throug…

“Hip-Hop don’t have social security.” 👀💰🙏 Nas helped give Grandmaster Caz something bigger than a shoutout. Through the Paid in Full Foundation, which Nas co-founded, the hip-hop pioneer received financial support that allowed him to buy a house and finally leave the projects. The Cold Crush Brothers legend explained the reality behind his decades of contributions: “You have to work. You got to stay out there. For me anyway, I got to keep working.” Caz kept doing radio, park jams and hip-hop sightseeing tours to support himself. His story shows why helping the pioneers means more than celebrating their influence. For him, that support meant a home. Interview clip.

"Hip-Hop don't have social security." Grandmaster Caz of the Cold Crush, whose rhymes were stolen to become "Rapper's Delight," on the lack of financial support for the pioneers, after a grant from Paid in Full Foundation allowed him to finally buy a house & move out of the projects.

Thank you Nait! All hip hop fans should come to Paid in Full!

True story

Paid in Full is an important movement. I went the last 2 years and left inspired each time. It's about honoring the artists who shaped many aspects of our culture. What we choose to celebrate as a society sends a message about our values to the next generation.

Paid in Full throws an amazing event every year to honor the legends who never got their due. Come October 24, don’t let Nas down Www.paidinfullfoundation.org