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Author and conservative activist David Horowitz, most famous for his book Radical Son and his speeches on college campuses, died on Tuesday at the age of 86.
The official David Horowitz account on X announced his passing on Tuesday while sharing a video compilation of his life’s work.
“On behalf of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, we are very saddened to announce the passing of the Center’s founder, David Horowitz. After a lengthy battle with cancer, David passed [today] at the age of 86,” said the announcement.
Born in Forest Hills, New York, Horowitz’s political life began relatively early due to his parents’ membership in the Communist Party USA. In his book Radical Son, Horowitz said his parents, both schoolteachers, fancied themselves as “secret agents” dedicated to advancing the cause of socialism at whatever cost.
“Underneath the ordinary surfaces of their lives, my parents and their friends thought of themselves as secret agents,” he wrote. “Even if we never encountered a Soviet agent or engaged in a single illegal act, each of us knew that our commitment to socialism implied the obligation to commit treason, too.”
Horowitz would later become a leader in the 1960s New Left with affiliations in the Black Panther Party and other radical groups. In the early 1960s, he resided in London for several years after completing his graduate degree before moving back to the United States in 1968 to become the co-editor of Ramparts magazine, a radical leftist publication. In the 1970s, he began working with the Black Panther Party, forming a friendly relationship with the group’s co-founder, Huey P. Newton. His transition into the American right began in 1974 with the murder of his friend, Betty Van Patter, who was found dead on a beach near San Francisco. Horowitz had introduced Van Patter to the Black Panthers and was convinced members of the group committed her murder. He severed all ties to the New Left as a result.
In the 1980s, he announced his vote for Ronald Reagan and continued his support for American conservatism until the eventual founding of his organization, the David Horowitz Freedom Center, in 1998.
Over the decades, and especially after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Horowitz positioned himself as a strong advocate against radical Islam and regularly spoke out against antisemitism on college campuses. In one particularly harrowing exchange at UC San Diego in 2010 that has since become a viral sensation, Horowitz addressed a Muslim student as she expressed support for the extermination of Jews worldwide.
“I’m a Jew,” Horowitz told the student as he stood at the podium. “The head of Hezbollah has said that he hopes we will gather in Israel so he doesn’t have to hunt us down globally.”
“For it or against it?” Horowitz emphatically asked.
The student leaned into the microphone and coldly said in no uncertain terms, “For it.”
“Thank you for coming and showing everybody what’s here,” Horowitz casually responded.
Married four times throughout his life, Horowitz is survived by his wife, April, and his four children.
