Publisher.
Educated at The King's School, Parramatta, the same school that his father Stanley Horwitz (q.v.) attended, Peter Horwitz excelled at both his studies and sport (notably cricket), and in his final year was selected as school captain. After leaving school, he played grade cricket with the Gordon Cricket Club; as a life member, he continues his association with the club today as one of its major sponsors (Goodman, p. 50). Horwitz also later took up coaching, eventually gaining Level 3 qualifications. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was appointed coach to the NSW Under-15s, a team that at one stage included later Australian captain and cricket legend, Steve Waugh (q.v.). Kersi Meher-Homji records in the Sydney Morning Herald, however, that Horwitz and selector Peter Spence dropped Waugh during the year for making his runs too quickly, a slight he's never forgotten (4 Jan. 2004).
Arguably Horwitz's greatest passion since at least the mid-1970s has been horseracing. Regarded as one of Australia's most successful owners and breeders, his horses (in the Horwitz colours of red and grey) have won many millions of dollars, with one of his biggest wins being the 1983 Golden Slipper (won by Sir Dapper). A board member of the Australian Jockey Club (AJC), Horwitz has been outspoken on a range of industry-related issues over the years. He also owns the Twin Palms Stud at Lochinvar in the NSW Hunter Valley.
Although he keeps a low public profile as a publisher, Peter Horwitz has established himself as an astute businessman since taking over the roles of chairman and chief executive officer of the family business from his father. Horwitz, along with his sister Susan Horwitz (q.v.), increased the magazine-side of the business throughout the late 1990s and early-mid 2000s, through such titles as Inside Sport, Australian Penthouse, TV Soap, Golf Australia, Geare, Sound and Image, Australian Hi-Fi, Pro Photo, and Australian Camera. In 2005, the pair agreed to the sale of the company's education catalogue. Two years later, they orchestrated the sale of most of the company to Wolseley Media. The Horwitz company continues, however, to publish Australian Penthouse.
