Harry Lee- A Louisiana Legend 1932-2007

Dj0287/YouTube.com/WDSU-TV, New Orleans, Louisiana

The footage you've just seen is from WDSU-TV, the NBC affiliate in New Orleans . The man warning people to leave from the path of Hurricane Katrina is Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee.

He was born the son of Chinese immigrants in 1932, in New Orleans, in the back room of his parents laundromat on Carondolet Street. At the time of his passing this morning, he had a 40 year career in law, from being a federal magistrate, to becoming an attorney of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, and in 1979, began his 28-year run as Jefferson Parish Sheriff.

He was colorful, a shoot-from-the-hip guy. Definitely a stand up person. Controversial at thimes and at odds with some of his constituents. The good. The bad. The take-no-bullshit kind of guy.

All of this was Harry Lee.

Lee was one of eight children of Bing and Yip Shee Lee, and graduated from Nicholls High. His parents ran a laundromat on Carondolet Street in what is now the Warehouse District. He attended Louisiana State University, and graduated in 1956 with a Bachelor of Science degree. He joined the US Air Force and served as a Lieutenant in the Strategic AAir Command; then later served in the Judge Advocate's Office. In 1987, he retired with the rank of Brigadier General.

Upon returning from active duty- being discharged honorably in 1959- he returned to his family restaurant, The House of Lee. In 1964, he was elected president of the New Orleans chapter of the Louisiana Restaurant Association. He was instrumental in the peaceful integration of New Orleans restaurants in 1964, when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was put into place. It was also at this time, he had studied law at Loyola University. In 1967, he graduated and ran a law practiced in Gretna- across the Mississippi from New Orleans' Garden District. In 1971, he was appointed federal magistrate for the Eastern District of Louisiana. After resigning from that post in 1975, he was appointed Parish Attorney.

In 1979, Sheriff Al Cronvich was embroiled in a wiretapping scandal. Lee saw this as a chance to enter elected office, and he was elected with 57 percent of the vote.

Lee sometimes got himself involved in controversy. At times, He's been accused of being racist- using black crime as examples from time to time. But his black supporters saw through the smoke and found Lee to be inclusive.


harryleejefferson/YouTube.com

Still, during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, he and Jefferson Parish officials were criticized for keeping evacuees from Orleans Parish to enter the (Jefferson) parish city of Gretna.

At the time of his passing, Lee was running for an eighth term as sheriff. His opponents were the police chief of Harahan, Peter Dale, and Harvey contractor Julio Castillo. He qualified for the October 20 election. Louisiana law requires qualifying to reopen if a candidate dies before the election. The election for Jefferson Parish sheriff has been moved to November.


At 10:44AM Central Time (8:44AM Pacific Time), Jefferson Parish lost one of its' most popular and outspoken law enforcement officers. Harry Lee died at Oschner Medical Center, in Jefferson, about a mile from the Orleans-Jefferson Parish line. Harry Lee was never into political correctness, instead, being brutally honest if need be. Jefferson Parish and its' residents never had to worry about rampant crime under his watch.

Harry Lee will be missed.

Copyright (C) 2007, by Darren W. Alexander. All Rights Reserved.