Lois Horvitz

Prominent desert philanthropist Lois Horvitz, who founded the Desert Town Hall and served on boards at Eisenhower Medical Center and the Betty Ford Center, died Thursday at her home near Cleveland. She was 88. Horvitz and her late husband, Harry, bought a vacation home in Indian Wells’ Vintage Club around 1985 and spent months in the desert every year, son Michael Horvitz said Monday. Horvitz also founded the Desert Town Hall, Indian Wells’ annual speaker series, in 1993. The inaugural lineup included former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and journalist Dan Rather. Since then, the series has grown from a few hundred people at each event to more than 2,000, including special access for high school students. Horvitz is survived by her son, Michael, and two other children. Michael is a retired partner in the Cleveland office of law firm Jones Day; Pam Schneider, her daughter, was a founding partner of Philadelphia law firm Gadsden Schneider & Woodward LLP; and her son, Peter Horvitz, is a retired newspaper publisher who lives in Kirkland, Wash. She also had three granddaughters and two great-grandchildren.