[1][7][8] Horn was elected as a member of the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1967,[9] and he spend his retirement years after 1983 at his home in Kingston near the URI campus.

The Graduate School of Oceanography, in particular, at the helm of Dean John Knauss became internationally known and continues to be one of the university's most prominent programs.

There resulted six weeks of extensive press coverage and Board of Trustee hearings over the issue before it was resolved generally in Horn's favor.

[1] Horn was an enthusiastic proponent of civil rights during the 1960s, often at odds with traditional notions of college acting in loco parentis.

The first of these was his contention that the state could not adequately support two major institutions of higher education, with a proposal to combine Rhode Island College and the university into one administrative entity based in Kingston.

[1] Shortly after his departure from URI, Horn was elected as a member of the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1967,[9] and he remained active in academic administration and as an internationally respected scholar.

He received a Fulbight Scholar Award for a year of teaching and research in Kenya, and he assumed the presidency of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities of New York (1967-1968).

Upon his retirement, Horn and his wife Billie returned to their home in Kingston, Rhode Island near the URI campus and they remained active in the local community.