Dr. Edward Horowitz had more patients to care for, more students to teach, more books to read, and more sports and concerts to watch.

Pedro Diego-Antonio had more beers to drink.

At 4:30 p.m. on a Sunday in June, their two lives intersected.

Horowitz, a Creighton University School of Medicine graduate who had been practicing for 36 years, was crossing with a green light at 38th and Dodge Streets.

Diego-Antonio, who had a DUI in 2011, had drunk between 15 and 20 beers and was barreling west on Dodge Street.

He struck and killed Horowitz. He then took off. A witness followed him and watched him ditch his car at 40th and Harney Streets.

Omaha police soon found him, and he eventually confessed to the crash. His blood-alcohol content was .246, more than three times the legal limit of .08.

On Wednesday, Douglas County District Judge Shelly Stratman sentenced Diego-Antonio to 35 to 40 years in prison. Under state laws that cut most sentences in half, Diego-Antonio, 31, will serve 17½ to 20 years in prison. He then will be deported to Guatemala, where he has a wife and a child, prosecutors say.

“These types of cases are the most preventable tragic cases that we have in our justice system,” Stratman told Diego-Antonio on Wednesday. “There are plenty of alcoholics who drink way too much. But they don’t get into a vehicle and put everyone in society at risk.

“We can protect ourselves from many different types of criminals. ... But, Sir, we can’t protect ourselves from criminals like you.”

Horowitz’s brother, Leslie, told the judge of a profound loss to the family and the Omaha community.

As long as he had been practicing, Ed Horowitz, 63, seemingly had years ahead. After all, his parents are now 95 and 97 — still living, still grieving.

Leslie Horowitz said June 22, 2014, the day his brother died, was the “saddest day of my life.”

“The worst day of my life was two days later, when we had to sit with our parents” and break the news to them.

Leslie Horowitz said his mother, Rosalie, stopped him before he could tell her the name of the man arrested in the crash.

“She didn’t want to know,” he said.

Stratman said that Diego-Antonio had not learned from his first DUI. In that 2011 case, his blood-alcohol content was more than .15 when he rolled his SUV several times.

Despite completing probation for that, Diego-Antonio didn’t change his ways.

Diego-Antonio apologized Wednesday. He described a vice he was unable to break. He admitted to a probation officer that he probably drove drunk three times a month — Stratman guessed it was more.

It was not clear why deportation proceedings weren’t started on Diego-Antonio after his first DUI. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman did not comment on Diego-Antonio’s case but said proceedings can be initiated after misdemeanor convictions.

“Please forgive me for what has happened,” Diego-Antonio told the judge. “I ask for forgiveness to the family of the victim. It wasn’t intentional. ... It was my vice. That’s why this happened.”

Leslie Horowitz’s voice broke several times as he described a “unique” doctor who was voracious in almost everything he did. He read obsessively. He traveled across the country and the world to hear orchestras.

As a 13-year-old growing up in Los Angeles in the 1960s, he memorized the leaders in every notable baseball statistic from 1900 on.

On his medical board exams, he scored in the 97th percentile in the general knowledge portion of the test. He chuckled as he told his brother that he had been reading a book about a 19th century organist — and that organist just happened to be an answer on his boards.

He loved sports, especially tennis and baseball.

Leslie Horowitz said he once quipped that his brother, a bachelor, wanted to be commissioner of baseball.

One of his two other brothers corrected him.

“He wanted to be commissioner of all sports,” the brother said.

What Horowitz loved most was treating patients and teaching medical students. Leslie Horowitz said his family received more than 70 letters and cards after his brother’s death, with notes describing deeds Horowitz had never mentioned.

One note was from a nurse whose son needed a hurry-up exam for a Boy Scout camp — and Horowitz dropped everything to get it done.

Another note was from a patient desperate because his brother was in a coma. Horowitz, an infectious disease and internal medicine specialist, arranged a treatment plan that saved the man’s life.

One of Horowitz’s passions was helping the CU Magis Clinic, which provides free services for homeless and uninsured people.

When it came to academics and sports, “he was not humble, I can assure you, about his knowledge,” Leslie Horowitz said. “But he was humble about calling attention to himself.

“The issue is not about the loss to our family. The issue is about the loss to the entire community. He will not be here to educate young medical students, treat patients and save more lives.”

Contact the writer: 402-444-1275, todd.cooper@owh.com