Sunday, July 8, 2012
Charles E. Roemer II
Charles E. Roemer II of Bossier City passed away on Saturday, July 7th, 2012. Mr. Roemer is survived by his wife of 70 years, five children, seventeen grandchildren and thirty-six great-grandchildren.
Mr. Roemer was known for being an advocate of black civil rights in a time when that was not only unpopular, but dangerous.
He served as campaign manager for Edwin Edwards in his first run for governor in 1971, and is credited with getting Edwards elected by what turned out to be a margin of one vote per precinct. At the time, Edwards and Bennett Johnston were considered to be the reform candidates in the field of seventeen, which included former governor Jimmie Davis.
His innovative Data Systems at Scopena Plantation put him on the cutting edge of technology at the time.
He was the father of former Governor and presidential candidate Buddy Roemer, the grandfather of BESE Board member Chas Roemer, and the father-in-law of 2010 U. S. House candidate and Methodist minister David Melville.
Mr. Roemer served Edwards as Commissioner of Administration during his first two terms, and helped shape Louisiana politics during the last third of the twentieth century.
One of the first actions of Governor Edwards was to call a Constitutional Convention, to which Buddy Roemer was elected as a delegate. That convention established the BESE Board on which Chas Roemer now serves.
Mr. Roemer will be missed by his large and productive family and by a large number of friends.
These few words don't begin to do credit to his memory, but you can get a little more by reading his obituary.
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To be clear here -- Governor Buddy Roemer has not died. KTBS originally reported that Charles E. Roemer III aka "Buddy" had died and showed his photograph. In reality, the father of Governor Buddy Roemer had died. Just clarifying.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the name of the Roemer who went to prison, and what was his relation to this Roemer family? The one I am asking about was, I think, a McKeithen crony and IIRC he took the fall for McKeithen after "LIFE" magazine did an expose of how the Louisana government is under the control of the Carlos Marcello crime family. It was all so many decades ago that my memory is like swiss cheese, but nothing has changed except that there is a younger generation of criminals and politicians robbing us blind.
ReplyDeleteIt was this Roemer, but the conviction was overturned.
ReplyDeleteMay you Rest in Peace.
ReplyDelete