Sagan Honored As Dad Who ‘Loved The World’

Carl Sagan, the storytelling astronomer who made the intricacies of the galaxy understandable to millions of people, was laid to rest on Monday.

Sagan, who died of pneumonia Friday in Seattle at age 62, was buried in an Ithaca cemetery plot near the home where he wrote many of his later works.

About 250 people attended the graveside ceremony. A blue awning protected the handful of speakers from a wet, gray day as they stood beside the plain wooden casket, hailing a scientist who made millions at home understand the mechanics of the universe.

Sagan was a “whole man, a happy man, who was loved very much by his children. He loved the world and made it a better place,” said his daughter, Alexandra.

Sagan, who lived in Ithaca, won the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction in 1978 for “The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence.”

In 1980, his 13-part Public Broadcasting Service series “Cosmos” became the most-watched series in the history of American public television, a record since surpassed by “The Civil War.”