E. Morial; First Black New Orleans Mayor

Ernest (Dutch) Morial, whose election as the first black mayor of New Orleans climaxed a long list of breakthroughs he made for blacks in Louisiana public life, died Sunday at the age of 60.

“He had bad asthma and the cold weather precipitated a bad asthma attack, resulting in coronary arrest,” Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard said, referring to the southeast cold wave.

A native of New Orleans, Morial was the first black graduate of Louisiana State University Law School, first black assistant U.S. attorney, first black Juvenile Court judge, first black elected to the state Circuit Court of Appeal, first black elected to the Louisiana Legislature in this century and, in 1976, he was elected to the first of two terms as mayor.

During his mayoral term he was elected president of the National League of Cities and used that post to mount attacks on the national government for “neglect” of urban problems. He accused the federal government of failing to pay attention to black unemployment and to the problems of hunger.

He was unable to succeed himself as mayor because of a two-term limit and led two unsuccessful attempts to change the city Charter.

A veteran reporter for the powerful New Orleans Times Picayune newspaper, Frank Donze, said Sunday: “Dutch marched to his own beat. He was often combative and he stepped on a lot of toes of the white Establishment as he opened door after door for the blacks.”

And, Donze noted: “He has to be credited with the buildup of the Riverfront. A convention center was built on the World’s Fair site and an Aquarium has been started. They were started on his watch.”

He was the son of French-speaking middle-class parents and was born to the New Orleans class known as “black Creole,” which describes descendants as “free men of color” as differentiated from slaves. He said he never knew the origin of his ever-present nickname “Dutch.”

He was constantly preoccupied with urban problems and once said, “It is not blackness, but executive ability that will solve the problems.”

Funeral arrangements for Morial were incomplete. He leaves a wife, three daughters and two sons.