By Bill Walsh and Stephanie Grace
Staff writers
Harry Lee, Jefferson Parish's irrepressible sheriff since 1980 and one of the most famous politicians in Louisiana history, died Monday at Ochsner Medical Center after a five-month battle with leukemia. He was 75.
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Mr. Lee had returned five days earlier from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and seemed to be faring well until Sunday, when he was rushed to the Jefferson Highway hospital with labored breathing. Within 24 hours, the state's most populous parish lost the only sheriff it had known for a generation.
"His passing was peaceful, with much love," said Chief Deputy Newell Normand, who was sworn in as sheriff Monday afternoon.
Mr. Lee was the second longest-serving sheriff in Jefferson Parish history, after Frank Clancy, whose 1928-56 tenure he would have surpassed in April. His death comes three weeks before he hoped to win an eighth term in office. He had signed up to run in the Oct. 20 election against Harahan Police Chief Peter Dale and Harvey contractor Julio Castillo.
In keeping with state law, the clerk of court moved the election to Nov. 17 and announced that the qualifying period for candidates would reopen today, Wednesday and Thursday.
'I tell it like it is'
Despite his ill health, Mr. Lee had been the heavy favorite to win re-election this year. Indeed, during the past 27 years he was re-elected regularly by huge margins even as he managed to become embroiled in controversy.
Defying every notion of political good sense, he unabashedly -- and often indelicately -- took stands considered taboo by most politicians. His shoot-from-the-hip style often made his closest advisers cringe even as it endeared him to many voters.
"I think people like me because I do a good job and because I tell it like it is," he once said. "If you ask me something, I'll give you an answer, straight up. People may not like it, but I'm not going to sugarcoat it."
One of Mr. Lee's most famous assaults on political sensibilities came in 1986 when, amid a suburban crime spree, he ordered his deputies to stop black men for no reason other than driving "rinky-dink cars" in predominantly white neighborhoods. The order, later rescinded, prompted calls for his immediate resignation and landed him in the national news.
"The sky was falling in," said Mr. Lee, admittedly shaken by the criticism. "I almost resigned." Years later, he said he really didn't understand what all the fuss was about and blamed the news media for blowing his order -- which he called "good police practice" -- out of proportion.
His political start
The son of Chinese immigrants, Mr. Lee was born in the back room of his family's laundry on Carondelet Street in New Orleans in 1932. When they were old enough, he and his siblings, eventually numbering eight, were given jobs in the laundry and later in the family's restaurants, including the House of Lee in Metairie.
He got a firsthand taste of politics early, at age 12, when he was elected president of the newly formed student body government at Shaw Elementary School. Each year after that, he was elected to class office. During his senior year at Francis T. Nicholls High School, now Frederick Douglass Senior High School, he was president of both his senior class and the student body, a school first.
Mr. Lee received a bachelor's degree in geology from Louisiana State University, did a short stint in the Air Force in Texas and married Lai Lee, then returned to Louisiana in 1959. That was the year that the family began construction on the House of Lee, where Mr. Lee would meet the man who became his political mentor, U.S. Rep. Hale Boggs, D-La.
He learned the art of politics from Boggs and Boggs' widow, Lindy, who succeeded her husband in Congress. For six years he worked as Hale Boggs' driver and confidant when the congressman was home in Louisiana.
Soon, Mr. Lee decided that public service was the career for him and saw law school as an entree. He took classes at Loyola University School of Law while working 12-hour days at the family's restaurant.
After law school, Mr. Lee set up a small practice with classmate Marion Edwards, now an appellate judge. With Boggs' help, Mr. Lee was appointed the first magistrate for the U.S. District Court in New Orleans, and in 1976 he became chief attorney for Jefferson Parish.
Four years later, with Sheriff Al Cronvich embroiled in a wire-tapping scandal, Mr. Lee saw a chance to plunge into electoral politics. Assailing the corruption and inefficiency of the Sheriff's Office, he ran as a reform candidate, led the five-candidate primary and took 57 percent of the runoff vote to defeat Cronvich.
'I don't give a damn'
He immediately gave deputies raises and poured money into the Sheriff's Office, computerizing it for the first time. He also began to build a political machine that would become one of the largest in southern Louisiana, although his record of helping others get elected was spotty.
By the late 1980s, as fear of crime became the No. 1 concern of Jefferson Parish residents, Mr. Lee sensed his continued political fortunes would have less to do with reforming the Sheriff's Office than with making his suburban constituents feel safe from the big city ills. As recently as last month, he touted the safety of predominantly white Jefferson Parish -- and the work of his office -- by contrasting it with headline-grabbing violence in majority-black New Orleans.
Once Mr. Lee was blamed for trying to separate the races by ordering that a barricade be erected on a street at the parish line dividing majority-black New Orleans and majority-white East Jefferson. Mr. Lee turned the story -- though false -- into political capital. "Depending on who I'm talking to," he said, "I either take credit for the barricade or I don't."
On another occasion, he defended his decision to yank deputies out of an all-black neighborhood in Avondale after residents complained about police brutality. And when an 8-year-old girl Harvey girl who was raped in March 1998 initially described two black men as her attackers, Mr. Lee was criticized for declaring every black man in the subdivision a suspect.
He apologized for any offense but insisted the practice was not racist. In fact, friends said the sheriff was so shaken by the vicious attack on the girl, who was black, that he pulled out all the stops to solve the case. "I'm going to catch that bastard, and when I catch him, he is going to be black," he said. "I just don't give a damn what people think of me anymore. If that was their daughter and we weren't doing that, they would be on our ass."
Several days later, Mr. Lee personally arrested the girl's stepfather in the rape. In 2003, a jury sentenced the stepfather to death.
While he enjoyed the political return that his loaded comments generated, Mr. Lee was unhappy with the image that they created. He viewed himself as a progressive Democrat, simply more honest than the "empty-headed" liberals in his party.
To combat his image as a racist, he once drew up a lengthy list of charitable contributions he made to black people, including a family burned out of their home and a girl with leukemia. "You're not hurting me when you print those things," he once told a reporter. "You're making me a hero. But I don't want to be that kind of a hero."
'King of the mountain'
Despite what would be considered missteps for other politicians, Mr. Lee's popularity grew from the time he took office, particularly among white people. In 1994, a survey for The Times-Picayune showed that an extraordinary 84 percent of Jefferson Parish residents had a favorable impression of the sheriff, including 91 percent of white people.
The same poll showed that, while almost nine out of 10 people thought he "tells it like it is," six of 10 thought he should sometimes keep his mouth shut. Numbers such as that, along with his dual role as top law enforcement officer and chief tax collector, made Mr. Lee stand out even in a state known for its political kingfishes, said Ed Renwick of Loyola University's Institute of Politics.
"There are very few people that are as powerful as he was within his domain," Renwick said. "He seemed to be sort of king of the mountain."
His widespread popularity gave Mr. Lee some wiggle room in the face of criticism about his management of the Sheriff's Office. A 1993 study by one government watchdog group lambasted his handling of the Sheriff's Office then-$60 million budget but stirred nary a ripple of public criticism. The same group gave him higher marks in a follow-up study a few years later.
Mr. Lee understood what was important to Jefferson voters. Until Hurricane Katrina depleted the Sheriff's Office ranks, he made sure a deputy showed up at a resident's house within five minutes of an emergency call, and he gave deputies take-home cruisers ensuring that marked cars were always visible around the parish.
Indeed, the most serious political scare of his career had everything to do with crime and nothing to do with race, his fiscal management or his penchant for controversial remarks. It came in 1985, when voters learned that a convicted rapist named Brian Busby was allowed to wander Jefferson Parish unsupervised during the day, instead of being locked up in state prison.
Mr. Lee had granted Busby special privileges as a favor to a Parish Council member. Ten days after the disclosure, Busby was sent to the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Mr. Lee's approval rating plunged.
A year later, however, after a series of Metairie robberies in which white shoppers were followed to their homes and held up at gunpoint in their driveways by African-American men, Mr. Lee made the statement that either almost ended or saved his career, depending on who judges it. "If there are some young blacks driving a car late at night in a predominantly white neighborhood, they will be stopped. .¤.¤. There's a pretty good chance they're up to no good. It's obvious two young blacks driving a rinky-dink car in a predominantly white neighborhood -- I'm not talking about on the main thoroughfare, but if they're on one of the side streets and they're cruising around -- they'll be stopped."
Outrage was immediate, and Mr. Lee quickly canceled the order and apologized as the NAACP called for his resignation. But there are those who think the statement reversed Mr. Lee's slide in popularity in what at the time was an overwhelmingly white parish. When he ran for his third term the next year, Mr. Lee failed to win the primary, but he defeated Art Lentini in the runoff with 54 percent of the vote. Never again would he be forced into a runoff.
Walk the walk
Early on in his administration, the sheriff realized that Jefferson voters wanted a lawman who didn't just talk tough, but looked tough, also. At times he appeared in public in full dress uniform with gold stars on the shoulders or wore his Sheriff's Office bomber jacket while riding with his deputies on early morning drug raids. At public events, he often sported a Stetson and custom-made cowboy boots with the Sheriff's Office emblem sewn into the front.
During his tenure, Mr. Lee spent heavily on computer services and modernized the Sheriff's Office. Flush with money to pay deputies overtime, his office usually boasted an impressive homicide solve rate of more than 90 percent, and he oversaw an aggressive strategy of tracking down and prosecuting career criminals.
He used his ample resources to push the boundaries of his job description. In late 1996, for example, he temporarily dispatched his own deputies into New Orleans after several particularly brutal, high-profile murders set the city on edge. While he took some heat for the move, Mr. Lee defended it as both good for neighboring Jefferson Parish and simply the right thing to do.
He also stepped in and took over when other agencies investigating a string of serial killings, most not even within his jurisdiction, dropped out of a regional task force, and he stayed with it when one of his own investigators was accused of destroying evidence. Rather than fold, Mr. Lee put his chief of detectives on the task force. He eventually fired two investigators on the case, one for destroying evidence and another for not promptly reporting the destruction. The murder suspect, Russell Ellwood, once implicated in as many as 15 homicides, was convicted of one.
Hunting nutria
Mr. Lee also put his deputies to work in some unconventional ways. One of the strangest started out as what many considered a joke.
The Parish Council was in the midst of a long-running and rancorous debate in 1995 over how to stem the rapidly growing nutria population, which threatened to undermine the parish's all-important drainage network, when Mr. Lee sauntered to the microphone at a council meeting and appeared to grab an idea out of thin air.
"I could do it for $50," he told the council. "I could buy a lot of .22 (bullets) for $50, and my SWAT team could shoot them."
But Mr. Lee was dead serious, and lo and behold, the sharpshooters' late-night rides alongside drainage canals put a dent in the infestation, and drew national and international press in the process.
An avid hunter whose offices were well-stocked with trophies, Mr. Lee himself sometimes rendezvoused with deputies at a Metairie donut shop and got in a little target practice on the nutria. He also poked fun at his trigger-happy image by appearing in a New Orleans Zephyrs television commercial pretending to go gunning for Boudreaux, the team's nutria mascot.
Mr. Lee was equally aggressive about pursuing his political agenda, and he was willing to take advantage of every sliver of authority the state Constitution bestowed on him.
In 1993, anticipating a low turnout for his sales tax referendum, Mr. Lee and his inner circle hatched an elaborate strategy to get out the vote by requiring each of his 1,300 deputies to deliver 20 sympathetic voters to the polls. The deliveries could be made in police cars, Mr. Lee decided. The tax passed easily.
Deeply loyal to his own political friends, Mr. Lee demanded loyalty from his employees. He deftly tip-toed around election laws while persuading deputies to campaign for him. The tactics were subtle, but the message was clear.
"Any guy that doesn't help out shouldn't expect advancement in the department," he said. "The Sheriff's Office is very unique. They serve at my pleasure, and pleasure means pleasing me."
Mr. Lee once boasted that a poll showed he was the most popular politician in metropolitan New Orleans, and candidates routinely sought his endorsement. In 1995, after Edwin Edwards, a close friend and hunting buddy, announced he would not seek another term as governor, Mr. Lee himself briefly ran for the state's top post. But in the end, he was reluctant to give up a job that gave him enormous latitude in raising and spending money and hiring and firing deputies. He boasted that he could legally spend public funds to buy his personal secretary a Mercedes. "Why would I want to be governor when I can be king?" Mr. Lee asked.
Although never elected in any district larger than a single parish, his reputation was broad enough that in 2001 he was inducted into the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame. Such was his popularity with the public that he could occasionally keep company with convicted felons yet never suffer politically. Among his questionable associates were organized crime figures Carlos Marcello and Frank Caracci; Al Payne Sr., a former warden whom Mr. Lee rehired despite a conviction for protecting a bookmaking operation; and Robert Guidry, who pleaded guilty to an extortion conspiracy and testified that he paid off former Gov. Edwin Edwards for the license to open the Treasure Chest casino.
Within the Sheriff's Office itself, five of Mr. Lee's deputies admitted to crimes exposed in the federal government's Wrinkled Robe investigation of Jefferson Parish Courthouse corruption. Despite internal investigations, Mr. Lee's staff had failed to uncover the systematic bribery that the FBI found.
Mr. Lee himself was convicted of a misdemeanor in 1998 for unknowingly hunting mourning doves over a baited field in Pike County, Miss. "I am a victim of circumstances," Mr. Lee said afterwards. "I find no irony. I feel no remorse. This is just another day in the life of Harry Lee."
Couldn't transfer popularity
Mr. Lee's political success was driven by an impressive vote-getting and money-generating machine. His annual fais do do fundraiser drew more than 5,000 guests each paying $100 for a seat -- even in non-election years. He also invested in votes. He routinely dipped into his campaign coffers to give money to local charities and social organizations -- and he expected a return.
"Do you know how much I give to charity every year?" he asked. "I give to the church. I give to other things, and all of that helps me politically. Every time I do that, someone says, 'That was nice of him to do that,' and when the election rolls around, they remember that."
Yet for all his personal popularity, Mr. Lee's efforts to transfer support to hand-picked candidates and causes proved less successful. The candidates routinely fell flat at the polls, and Mr. Lee failed three times in the 1990s to persuade voters to raise taxes to expand the parish jail. Only after other parish officials put together a campaign to keep video poker legal in Jefferson, by pledging the gambling tax revenue to the jail expansion, did voters agree.
Renwick said Mr. Lee's endorsement record is just another example of how he defied conventional wisdom. Most politicians put their reputation on the line only if they think their cause is a winner, Renwick said, while Mr. Lee backed anyone and anything he felt like backing.
A nice guy
Despite his rough-hewn political style, most people -- even his political enemies -- thought of Mr. Lee as a genuinely nice guy. Just before he entered the hospital for chemotherapy treatment for leukemia in May, a group of his most persistent critics, seven black ministers affiliated with local churches and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, paid Mr. Lee a visit in his office to pray for his healing.
"When we were done," said Rev. Norwood Thompson, "there were tears in his eyes."
Long before that moment, Mr. Lee had attained the local celebrity status usually accorded to music and movie personalities. When he stepped foot into a schoolyard, children clamored around him screaming, "Harry Lee. That's Harry Lee!"
He was a fixture in Carnival parades, tossing plastic Sheriff's Office badges and cups from a float bearing his own larger-than-life image, a giant paper mache head that also briefly graced his campaign headquarters in the 1995 governor's race.
Mr. Lee, a voracious eater, even turned his weight in to an asset, although it was a painful handicap to him. He often joked about his considerable girth and once joined his fattest deputies in a (short-lived) weight-loss program. When a cartoon was published depicting him as a rotund lawman with Ultra-Slim Fast in his belt, Mr. Lee made copies and sponsored a "Color Fat Harry" contest for school children.
Simultaneously summing up Mr. Lee's appeal and his waistline, former University of New Orleans Chancellor Gregory O'Brien once considered naming the five most influential people in the New Orleans area and remarked, "Harry Lee would be three of them, and I'd be hard pressed to name the other two."
Mr. Lee weighed closer to 200 pounds when he took office in 1980. But he soon grew corpulent and, despite trying everything from Weight Watchers to hypnotism, never could slim down permanently. Finally in 2003, weighing about 375 pounds, he opted for gastric bypass surgery to reduce the size of his stomach. Within 10 months, he lost 90 pounds.
By this time he had already replaced both knees and both hips, all casualties of arthritis. Type 2 diabetes and hearing loss were other ailments, and his cancerous prostate gland was removed in January. He was diagnosed with leukemia in April and, as with almost all his medical maladies, used the occasion to try to educate the public on health, medical testing and early intervention. His health, he said, was the public's business.
The line between stage performers and Louisiana politicians has always been perilously thin, and not too far below the surface in Mr. Lee was a lounge singer crying to get out. On more than one occasion, he sang at a popular West Bank honky-tonk, Mud Bugs, and at the 1994 Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans, he took the stage for a duet with his friend, Willie Nelson. "I'd like to do what he does," Mr. Lee said once, referring to his famous friend. "I'd like to travel around and make people happy."
For one of his famous fais do dos, Mr. Lee handed out to all his guests a complimentary cassette tape featuring his own silky voice singing such tunes as "Wind Beneath My Wings" and his personal favorite, which one associate called the sheriff's theme song: "Welcome to My World."
Funeral arrangements were incomplete Monday.
Bill Walsh can be reached at bill.walsh@newhouse.com or (202) 383-7817. Stephanie Grace can be reached at sgrace@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3383.
Thank You Sheriff Lee, you were always there to help your fellow man.. God bless you and your family.
my deepest condolences and sympathies for his loved ones AND for the people of jeff parish. what a loss.
You will be greatly missed by all Jefferson Parish.
Jennifer
IT IS HORRIBLE HOW SOME ONE COULD TARNISH A GOOD NAME...HARRY WILL BE MISSED BY ALL WHO KNEW HIM...AND RESPECTED HIM.....TO THE FAMILY JUST KNOW THAT HE WAS A GREAT MAN...HE IS NO LONGER IN PAIN..AND INDEED HE WILL BE WATCHING OVER YOU...THE THE PERSONNEL AT THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE YOU ALSO FEEL THE PAIN...CARRY ON AS HE WOULD..REST IN PEACE.....
I am not happy to see the guy go, BUT Jefferson Parish residents should start placing FOR SALE SIGNS in their yards.
Jefferson will be the New, New Orleans. The THUGS he rid the parish of for years, will definitely try to take over.
This is such a sad loss for Jefferson Parish.
Harry Lee told it like it was, & we loved him for that!!
God HELP Jefferson Parish now...this is a good day for Woodmere...
May he rest in peace, and may we get a new Sheriff that has atleast half of the strength showed by Harry Lee!!
sad...sad...day...
This was as courageous a man as I have ever seen. My heart is broken with the sadness of our parish losing our hero.
First thing I did was tie a yellow ribbon round our tree with a Thank You, Harry Lee sign
RIP Mr. Lee. God Help our parish.
Good man, Great Sheriff !! Jefferson Parish lost a true asset.
R.I.P. "Harry" My condolences to the family. We all will miss him.
Martin & Lola, Former residents, now in Colorado Springs.
There is a special place for you mrqhm. I think you know where it is .
Jefferson parish will be full of people like you now.
God bless Harry Lee
RIP Harry Lee...
I'm not from Jeff Parish and never lived there but this man was one of the good ones. He was a household name in this area...everyone knew Harry Lee.
You will be missed. Such sad news. My thoughts and prayers are with your family.....You will never be forgotten.
Many people knew him because of his stature in our society, but the ones who had the pleasure to know him personally were even more blessed. I've known him since I was five and he has always been a respectable role model to me. It's hard to believe that I will never be able to speak to him or joke around with him again. He was not only a wonderful Sheriff, a professional that was great at his job, but he was a sweet man with a great sense of humor. He will be deeply missed by all! My thoughts, prayers and sympathy go out to his family, friends and associates.
Harry Lee will be missed. Harry was our champion. My deepest sympathy to his family.
We will surely miss you Harry Lee. You will be greatly missed. My deepest condolences for his family. A great man has left us today, but he will always be watching us.
Thanks for everything you have done for us. You gave you life to serve us and you really gave us so much more than we expected.
Thanks again Harry.
We love you
There is no death, only a change of worlds.
It is so sad to lose Harry Lee in this world. To the Lee Family and the Sheriffs Department of Jefferson Parish go my condolences.
To the law abiding citizens of Jefferson Parish I know he worked for you. He was your friend.
May he live in the history books and in our memories until we too have a change of worlds.
I'll always have a fond memory of the Sherriff singing 'To All the Girls I've Loved Before' with Willie Nelson at the JazzFest a few years back.
God Speed his healing powers to the family of Harry Lee. May he rest in peace.
One great Sheriff!!! You will be missed. Hope the great work you had going on in Parish will continue.
my thoughts and prayers are with the family of one of the all time Greats................................
I will be walking in memory of my mother, who passed away before Sheriff Lee with the same illness, and will also honor his memory at this years Leukemia Society's Light the Night Walk, 10/20 7.00 pm @ the zephyr field.
RIP Mr Lee
You served your parish and your country well.
Please watch over us from above .
:(
They don't make 'em like that anymore. A man's man. Integrity, a Leader, a great example for all of us.
I pray that Harry is sitting comfortably on the other side.
We will pray for his Family and the community he cared for so much.
Thank You Harry and Thank You to his Family for allowing him to lead us this far.
Although Sheriff Lee in fact made controversial statements and performed some very questionable acts, I believe one of his sincere concerns was crime-fighting. As a law enforcer and a member of the military, I am saddened to see another law officer and veteran fall that was dedicated to combating crime as we all should be. I'll pray for his soul and his family. May he rest in peace....
My thoughts and prayers and condolances go out to his entire family
(family and police family)...As a wife of former policeman I just want to say Jefferson Parish has lost a very special person..It is a very sad day...When I last spoke to Mr Lee it was several years ago but he still remembered me and it meant so much...May he R.I.P because he fought a long battle.. (one I am fighting right now).... he was a wonderful person....
HARRY LEE WAS A GREAT MAN AND SHERIFF-TO HIS FAMILY AND FRIEND AND THE JPD-MY DEEPEST SYMPATHY-I HOPE THE NEXT SHERIFF WILL DO AS GOOD A JOB(IF NOT BETTER)AS HARRY LEE HAS DONE---REST IN PEACE HARRY LEE AND THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE FOR JEFFERSON PARISH AND MY FAMILY-----SADDENED IN PECAN GROVE
Jefferson Parish will never be the same without Harry Lee. My condolences to the familly. I do have one question though. Was it the Leukemia that killed him, or did Ochsner do something wrong that caused his death? He was treated at Ochsner on Thursday and was feeling fine until Sunday, then very suddenly becomes ill and dies. I think they should do an autopsy.
God Bless Sherriff Lee and his family.
He will be missed.
He finished the work he was sent to do here, and has moved on.
He was a man of honesty and integrity. although controversial, what he did on some occasions was only for the safety of all the people regardless of race. whether anyone likes it or not, this is the truth.
He wouldn't want us to mourn his death, so we should remember the good times and the fun times and celebrate his life.
God bless you Harry and bless all of your family members. I went to school with the your neice in the 1980's. She is a character.
Unfortunately, how ironic my Father also died this morning of liver cancer at the same hospital. You know a week ago he wanted to call Harry Lee to get him out of the hospital. He was confused and aggravated. May God bless both of you!
My thoughts and prayers are with the family. He was a great man and did a lot to keep our parish save. RIP our hero.
A big visionary with a great big public voice and an even bigger heart for all people ... that is who Harry Lee was. He is sorely missed and forever cherished.
One of my favorite memories of Harry Lee was my wife and I sitting in the Elmwood Theater watching the trailers before the movie, and seeing the short ad asking patrons to be quiet: he bullwhipped the cell phones out of patrons' hands to get their attention! I still laugh when I remember that--it's a "Naturally Jefferson Parish" moment!
They should bring that back in his memory---but after the election.
My thoughts and prayers are with the Lee Family and the residents of JP.
Gov
He was tough, at times very tough, and sometimes maybe too tough.
But....he was an outstanding sheriff. In such position you cannot mince words, you cannot go where the wind blows, you cannot yield to silly special interests.
Harry, you were great, really great.
The two candidates remaining in this race will have BIG shoes to fill, and who knows if they are up to the task. Peter Dale from Harahan is a great guy, fantastic guy, but .... Peter, will you protect us in Jeff Parish at large as Harry did? Because, Harahan is one thing; Jeff Parish at large, quite another.
Sunshine6000, 6 on one, ring any bells? harry lee your in my all time top 10.
A good man to the core. I hope Jefferson Parish continues to stay safe with him gone. He will be missed so much.
Harry Lee will always be remembered for keeping Jefferson Parish safe and for standing up for the residents that kept the parish safe.
As a jefferson parish resident, I can only hope that his successor will follow in his footsteps and turn Jefferson Parish around in a time that it is needed the most.
You may not have liked or respected harry lee, but lets all think of him as a man who has died and left a family behind.
No matter what his view were, which some of us disagree with, lets realize that this was a human being who had a serious illness & has died.
Pray for him and his family, all you good christians out there, lets be just that christians about this. God does not like ugly and he's not crazy about pretty either.
Let's pray for this man & his family.
God will judge harry lee.
This is my 3rd time trying to get this to post, hope it goes thru this time.
redboijag01,
He did care for all people. Called it like he saw it. If the crime was committed he went after the criminal. Didn't matter to him what the color was he was just interested in getting the criminal. Who sounds like the racist?
May God rest his soul!
This is a time for mourning and paying our respects.
He without sin cast the first stone!
For the fools who feel the need to bash a great man, find somewhere else in New Orleans to do so. This is a real human life and that alone deserves respect. He was a pioneer in Jefferson and the Sherrifs department. He is greatly missed by ALL real Jefferson parish residents. I hope Newell Norman will get his game face on and finish the job Harry started!!
Thank you Harry Lee.
One of the reasons I came back to stay was knowing he was on our side.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the Lee family. Sheriff Lee will definitely be one that cannot be replaced.
What a loss! A very outspoken man and this is what I loved the most about him. He was strong willed and has proved his committment to our community many times over. May your family continue to have the strength to carry on with all his concerns in which he felt strong about. My prayers go out to the Lee family at this very sad time. He will be greatly missed by all.
I'm from St. John the Baptist parish.
I admired Sheriff Harry Lee so much.
He was an awesome Sheriff.
He didn't put up with any bull from anybody of any race.
We need more leaders like him.
He loved life and people so much.
I didn't know him personally and the closest I have ever been to him was at the Mardi Gras parades that he road in.
He struggled so hard to overcome his weight and his battle with lukemia.
This is a great lose.
He will be greatly missed.
My condolences to his family.
What a great loss to Jefferson Parish. I thought he was a wonderful person and a truely extroidinary man. God Bless.
I was always so happy when I went to my refrigorator and saw his caricuture smiling back at me on that silly magnet! I've caught hundreds of these through the years and put up EVERY one of them too! For a while I will be sad when I see them but I'm sure all the happy memories of him and what he did for us will make me smile again. Long live the memories of Harry Lee!
Our condolences got out to JPSO and Sheriff Lee's family. He was the law enforcement officer that we should all aspire to be. He will be missed and never replaced.
Chief Mitch Bratton
Grayson Police Dept.
Grayson, La
Sheriff Harry Lee will be missed by all who knew and worked for him. God's speed on your next assignment.
God rest your soul Harry Lee. You will be missed! You were a dedicated, strong-willed sheriff who cared for ALL the residents of Jefferson Parish. You are one of the reasons I felt safe living in Jefferson Parish for 22 years. I hope you're smiling down on us in heaven.
THE ALLA PARADE IN TERRYTOWN WON'T BE THE SAME WITHOUT HARRY RIDING IN THE CAR; STOPPING FOR HOT DOGS AT TVFD.
MY THOUGHTS & PRAYERS ARE WITH HIS FAMILY.
We need a guardian angel sheriff watching over us! But JP will never be the same again without Harry Lee. He will be sorely missed. He watched over Jefferson Parish like no other civil servant ever has, or ever will.
I hope when my time comes that I am as strong as Harry Lee. We have lost a great human being. Listening to him on the radio, you would have never known anything was wrong. Great spirits, great personality and strong until the very end. Harry Lee never gave up. His body simply gave out, the man and his mind was solid and strong.
From our family to yours, our deepest and warmest condolences.
After moving from Jefferson 15 years ago, I must say that Sheriff Lee was one political figure I have respected for decades. He was a rare public official that lived up to the job of protecting and serving the Parish and people that elected and re-elected him as he promised he would do.
Saint Harry the First...Patron Saint of Jefferson Parish! God speed Harry Lee.
My prayers go out to the Lee family. Harry Lee was a wonderfull human being , he is going to be greatly missed.
God bless Harry Lee he was a wonderful man. Thanks for a job well done.
Sheriff Lee,
I was proud to serve under your command R.I.P., knowing that your deputies through the ranks will not fail your name or what you stand for, I will respectfully, proudly serve the citizens of Jefferson Parish, just as you hired me to do. My prays are with you and your family. God Bless You! Jefferson Parish is what it is because of you. The Sheriff elect has some big shoes to fill, please put in a good word with our father for the right choice. God speed!
JP273
Sheriff Lee,
I would take my family to the House of Lee at least two or three times a year. Since we lived in Mississippi it was a special time to go out and eat at the Restaurant, especially at Christmas time because of the beautiful decorations. One time we had just parked our car and was walking towards the entrance of the restaurant and Sheriff Lee was walking towards his vehicle. He called out to our daughters to "come here I have something for you", he opened his trunk of his vehicle and gave them each a plastic badge. My daughters were all exicited being made honorary deputies. I would say that Sheriff Lee was a very honorable person, his heart was in his job for the people he represented. He lived to serve the people of Jefferson Parish, a person like Sheriff Harry Lee can never be replaced. I know because of Sheriff Lee, Jefferson Parish was and is a safer place to live and raise a family. My heart goes out to his family, I pray that you will be comforted by the Holy Spirit in the days to come. Everyone Loved Sheriff Lee even though you didn't live in Jefferson Parish.
SHERIFF HARRY LEE WAS A GREAT MAN AND LOVED HIS JEFFERSON PARISH.HE WAS A TOUGH BUT FAIR MAN AND HE RAN A GREAT SHERIFF OFFICE.CRIME WAS LOW IN JEFFERSON AND THE PEOPLE WERE SAFE. WE WILL ALL MISS HARRY LEE A GREAT MAN AND SHERIFF. R I P HARRY LEE
Just wanted to say my heart goes out to the family. He was great Sheriff. Now what are we going to do now. Jefferson parish is not going to be the same with out him. He kept the bad people out. We are going to start looking like new orleans now. I just hope we can find somebody like him to do the job well. Rest in peace Harry Lee
This is from the people of Kenner. We will miss you
I Belive Mr. Harry Lee was a God sent man. Symphity to his family,witch intails his emity family and everyone he came in contact with. All others should follow his lead.
My God be with you.
Alice Poiroux
To the family,
My condolences, sheriff Harry Lee will always be remembered with love and respect. HE WAS THE MAN! He will be sorely missed and Jefferson parish will never be the same, because theres no one out there to fill his shoes. And thats a mighty tall order.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family, God Speed
What can you say about a man as extraordinary as Harry Lee.
He was one of a kind and is irreplaceable.You always knew
where you stood with Harry and he was a man of principle.
My dear departed mother always taught me principle.Something
would happen and she'd say it's a matter of principle and I admired
Harry very much,Mr.Lee.I had great respect for him and he will
be missed.Whenever he would come on tv I'd stop whatever
I was doing because I wanted to hear what he had to say and I
don't live in Jefferson,but I sure wish we had had a man like
him in Orleans.God Bless You Harry.I know you are with the
Angels.
I am so sorry to hear of the sheriff's passing. May he rest in peace, and may God be with his family during this difficut time. He loved his family, and I am sure he will be sorely missed by all who loved him. R.I.P. Sheriff Harry Lee. To God be the glory.
Mr. Harry Lee, WILL be missed. He was the hope of Jefferson parish and all surrounding areas . If all leaders would posses Harry Lees strong convictions, fairnest, love, perseverence, and honesty we could change the world to be a better place. Harry fought against all odds, criminals, media , and when needed the public. I have the utmost respect for Mr. Lee and will never forget him. Harry Lee was an example of what being a man should be.
R.I.P. Sheriff Harry Lee. You will be missed by all who loved and supported you. May God be with his family during this difficult time.
Mr. Harry Lee, WILL be missed. He was the hope of Jefferson parish and all surrounding areas . If all leaders would possess Harry Lees strong convictions, fairnest, love, perseverence, and honesty we could change the world to be a better place. Harry fought against all odds, criminals, media , and when needed the public. I have the utmost respect for Mr. Lee and will never forget him. Harry Lee was an example of what being a man should be.
I am sad to hear about the passing of our wonderful sheriff Harry Lee. We will miss you very much. May you rest in peace.
I lived in Jefferson Parish my whole life with the exception of the last six years. I now live in St John Parish. I have admiredHarry Lee for as long as I can remember. I had the honor of meeting him several times. He was a great person as well as a wonderful dedicated sheriff to Jefferson Parish. May his soul rest in peace as he watches over Jefferson Parish. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family Harry.
A venerable person is laid to rest. May he rest in peace, as his spirit lives on.
I only hope that upon my passing, I will be looked upon as half the man that Sheriff Lee was. He was person who dedicated himself to serving others, and did an excellent job. He is truly a man to admire, and will be a role model for many even still after he has left us.
His family and coworkers should be proud. God bless!
I was born and raised in New Orleans and remember quite fondly my father Cy Courtney introducing me to Harry Lee and his family! I have very fond memories of a man who could have been sheriff for a millenium! He will NEVER BE FORGOTTEN! As I write this in San Diego, CA I want to extend to all of his family Lai, Cindy and family and all of the staff and friends and co-workers and to the people of Jefferson my deepest condolences and heartfelt thoughts! Let his memory live on and may we all honour him no matter where we are!
May God Bless each of you during this time and as always Louisiana you are forever in my prayers and those people who have made Louisiana the strong and the survivors!
Lovingly a forever daughter of New Orleans,
Sign me proudly,
Kim Louise Courtney Berch
San Diego, CA
What a "Special" man! We all looked up to him as a father figure.
He will be sadly missed.
He was mistook by some for speaking his peace, but when others
do it, it's understood.Such as the comment about the "Chocolate
City." Not a bright comment! Especially for a city that was suffering
already.
Rest in peace, Sheriff Lee.
A good man and the best sheriff Jefferson Parish ever had.
He will be sadly missed. The next sheriff will have some really big shoes to fill.
Sadly missed, God Bless
Rest In Peace, Harry Lee. You were a very gracious and great man. Jefferson Parish has lost an Icon.
My sincere condolences go out to his wife, daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren. Know that he is no longer suffering and he will be Angel watching over you for the rest of your life.
May God bless Harry Lee's family, work associates, and all of the people of Louisiana that were touched by him.
As I drove home yesterday, I noticed flags at half mast and didn't know why. Later on, I saw a news flash highlighting the 10 o'clock headlines. I was almost brought to tears when I heard that Harry had passed away.
He will be remember for a long time as a man who stood by his princiles and did a great job of keeping JP safe.
May he rest in peace!
teddybear700 - hopefully my post placates your fears, I almost never have anything good to say when I utilize this forumn, yet that in itself is how I make it thru the rest of the day w/o screaming, yelling or stressing out otherwise. Thanks tp.
Your watch is over. You have earned eternal rest. Be assured the men and women of JPSO have the watch and will continue to be the professionals that you trained them to be. Gone but not forgotten. Your love of people and the law is a model for everyone. Your life is one to be celebrated, not mourned. From one law enforcement officer to another, RIP, Harry, we have the watch.
It's like a legend of Louisiana had just passed.
I feel like I did the day John Wayne died.
I am one of the people who thinks Harry Lee was a Godsend and a Saint, but I also believe that ALL comments should be welcome, even the negatives ones.
May God bless his soul and all souls that he has touched. May he rest in peace.
As much as I want to go home, I cannot imagine Jefferson Parish without Harry Lee. His sheriffs always made me feel safe. It is a sad day. The thugs will come to Jefferson and make it unsafe. I would like to go home, but it won't happen any time soon. Sheriff Lee did so much for the residents. He will be missed.
wow, i have always wanted to thank him for what he did for that little girl in woodmere that time,but, god knows, god saw and god will bless him for that.Seems like no one ever saw the good that he did.
all have sinned and come short.now somebody finish that!!!!!
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