Andrew J. Horner, founder of Premier Designs, has passed away.
Born in Belfast, Ireland in 1924, Horner emigrated with his family to Canada in 1930 and joined the Royal Canadian Navy in 1943. After marrying his high school sweetheart, Joan Taylor, the two moved to Dallas, Texas in 1950. There, Horner attended night school at SMU for 11 years and earned a degree in business in 1996. His management career included several positions for large corporations, including direct selling company Home Interiors and Gifts, where he and wife Joan worked alongside their friend Mary Crowley for 17 years.
In 1985, Horner and wife Joan founded direct sales company Premier Designs with the goal to provide encouragement and extra income for single moms, to offer a way for those in full-time ministry to meet their financial needs, and to give financial support to the many various ministries in which they believed.
Horner held the title CSO, standing for Chief Servant Officer, and developed the company’s founding principal: Honor God and serve others. The company’s purpose, Horner announced, would be to enrich every life they touched.
Premier Designs became a multimillion-dollar business, earning more than $100 million in revenue annually.
Horner is preceded in death by wife Joan Horner, and is survived by his second wife Sarah Hemingway Horner, five children, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
