Police: Brownsville museum director found dead in apparent homicide

BROWNSVILLE — Barry T. Horn, the executive director of the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, was found dead Saturday afternoon, the apparent victim of a homicide.

His death came as a shock to BMFA officials, who had been preparing for the museum’s most important fundraiser later that night.

Brownsville police said they were investigating a death at Horn’s residence as a homicide but would not confirm the name of the victim.

Emergency medical personnel, however, received a call about 1 p.m. Saturday from a museum employee who said he had found Horn’s body at the museum director’s home at 1400 Flor de Mayo, said Lt. Luis Del Angel, chief supervisor for Brownsville’s emergency medical services.

Police said they have identified a person of interest in the case.

Sgt. Jimmy Manrrique, a spokesman for the Brownsville Police Department, said the investigation is still in the early stages, but detectives were trying to track down the person of interest and determine the role he may have played.

“Officers arrived to find a person dead on scene,” Manrrique said. “All indications point to the fact that this is a homicide.”

Police did not release the victim’s name, citing a department policy requiring proper notification of next of kin before making that information available to the wider public.

“This person died of a violent nature and we are working this case at a very high speed,” Manrrique said.

Museum officials confirmed the death of their 59-year-old director as they prepared for the night’s Anniversary Benefit Gala. The event continued Saturday night because the museum’s board of trustees believed Horn would not have wanted the fundraiser cancelled, members of the group stated.

“We are shocked and devastated,” board president Eddie Knebel said in statement the museum released. “Barry enhanced immensely the quality of the BMFA programs during his short tenure.”

Described by friends and colleagues as one of the cultural pillars of Brownsville, Horn came to the position at the museum on Jan. 1 after more than two decades of varied professional experience, first as one of the hosts of Good Morning Houston, then as executive director of the South Texas Symphony Association Inc.

The museum conducted a nationwide search for its executive director position, but in the end the Brownsville native beat out the competition, colleagues said.

“We were fortunate to have many good applications but Barry rose to the top quickly,” said Charles Willette, a museum board trustee who served as the chairman of the search committee. “He was clearly our best candidate. The decision to recommend his selection was unanimous.”

Most recently, Horn served as associate vice president for development at the University of Texas-Brownsville/Texas Southmost College. He began working at the university in 1996 and later took over managing the renovations for the university’s Jacob Brown Civic Center.

As UTB/TSC’s director of development and associate vice president for development, Horn was instrumental in establishing many of the university’s endowments and scholarships through his work with families and community organizations.

His father, Lloyd E. Horn, at the younger Horn’s suggestion, donated the 1,100 native Sabal palms decorating the UTB/TSC campus.

“(Horn) would transform the worst room on campus into a thing of beauty and no one has been able to match that brilliance,” said Juliet V. Garcia, UTB/TSC’s president.

In his latest feat, Horn devoted himself to raising funds for the museum, which operates on a $500,000 annual budget and has been struggling to pay off the construction costs of the 17,000-square-foot building on the corner of Ringgold and Sixth streets. The museum opened in 2006.

Museum trustees have raised about $1.1 million in the last five years and need another $700,000 to pay off the construction debt. Saturday’s gala was expected to bring in about $40,000.

“Now that he is gone, it is more important to help his cause, help this museum,” said George Ramirez, president of the Brownsville Society for the Performing Arts. “I consider this a call to action, that we do more than we ever have.”

Known for his attention to detail and his great sense of humor, Horn would always give himself to his projects, which inspired others to give more of themselves as well, friends said.

“He was everywhere. He touched so many lives,” said Letty Fernandez, UTB/TSC’s public information director.

Joe Kenney, owner of Cobblehead’s restaurant, found it difficult not to think about his longtime friend’s death while catering Saturday’s gala. But the benefit, which had been in the works for the last two years, had meant a lot to Horn, and Kenney was not going to let his friend down.

“He was so thrilled (about the gala), so I know deep in my heart, he wanted this to go on,” Kenney said. “We have to celebrate his life tonight more than anything.”

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Jazmine Ulloa and Ildefonso Ortiz are reporters for The Brownsville Herald.