deLesseps Morrison Jr.

deLesseps Story "Toni" Morrison Jr. (March 11, 1944 – August 21, 1996), the older son of four-term mayor of New Orleans, deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison Sr., was an American lawyer and international business consultant who was a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1974 to 1980. He was also president of the Young Democrats of America from 1973 to 1975 and a former member of the executive committee of the Democratic National Committee.

DeLesseps Morrison Jr.
State Representative for District 88 (Orleans Parish)
In office 1974–1980
Preceded by	Frank A. Marullo, Jr.
Succeeded by	E. Henry "Eddie" Heaton, Jr.
Personal details
Born	deLesseps Story Morrison, Jr. March 11, 1944 New Orleans, Louisiana
Died	August 21, 1996 (aged 52) New Orleans, Louisiana
Political party	Democratic
Parents	DeLesseps Story Morrison (1912–1964) Corinne Waterman Morrison (1921–1959)
Profession	Attorney; businessman
Nickname(s)	DeLesseps was better known as "Toni" to others.
1 Morrison failed in a 1977 campaign to follow in his father's footsteps as mayor of New Orleans. (2) The Toni Morrison Overpass in New Orleans is named for the former state representative, not the black author of similar name.

Early life

Toni Morrison was born in New Orleans; his mother was the former Corinne Waterman (1921–1959). He grew up in New Orleans but graduated from Allen Military Academy in Bryan, Texas, at which he was in the Reserve Officer Training Corps. He earned his undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University and his legal credentials from Louisiana State University Law Center, both in Baton Rouge. Prior to the receipt of his law degree, he studied law part-time while he was living in Buenos Aires, Argentina for two years. He was a Roman Catholic.

Career

At the age of thirty-three, "Toni" Morrison ran for mayor in the election of 1977 but finished in fourth place in the nonpartisan blanket primary, as three white candidates challenged a single African American candidate, Ernest N. "Dutch" Morial. In the second balloting, Morial defeated city councilman Joseph V. DiRosa (later a state district judge) and hence became the first in a long line of black mayors in New Orleans, a trend which was interrupted in 2010 with the election of Mitch Landrieu. The late state Senator Nat G. Kiefer had finished in third place in the 1977 primary.

Politics

Morrison won a seat in the legislature in 1974 and was elected to full terms in 1975 and again in 1979. In the legislature, Morrison fought for a bill to secure dental health coverage for the indigent and was a strong supporter of civil rights issues. He was also able to negotiate free tuition for all foreign national teachers working in Louisiana. He is listed in Marquis' "Who's Who in American Politics."

Morrison was the executive vice president of the Cordell Hull Foundation for International Education, named for the 1945 Nobel Peace Prize recipient from Tennessee, who was U.S. Secretary of State under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR called Hull the "father of the United Nations." Morrison worked with both state and national governments to secure grants for university pilot projects on renewable energy. As chairman of the Louisiana Alcohol Fuels Corp., he involved many prominent state leaders to spearhead the development of an ethanol plant in Myrtle Grove south of New Orleans.

Later career

However, Morrison resigned from the state House of Representatives after six years of service to pursue the development of an ethanol plant in Louisiana, which was eventually constructed and operating. He perceived the development of alternative energy sources as the most pressing problem in the nation at the time. His business specialized in international business, immigration, and foreign trade. Early in his career, Morrison was assistant to the president of the International Trade Mart in New Orleans.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he worked to promote the renewable-energy industry in the Americas, having served as chairman of the Committee on Renewable Resources for Louisiana and of the first InterAmerican Conference on Renewable Sources of Energy, held in New Orleans in 1979, which attracted delegates from more than fifty countries.

Prior to his death, Morrison worked with Waldemar S. Nelson International as a business consultant and legal counsel for development projects in Central, South America, Haiti, and China.

Death

Morrison died on August 21, 1996 of cancer.[1] Survivors included a daughter and a son from his first marriage: Corinne Morrison Marcus, an attorney born in 1966, and DeLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison, III, a businessman born in 1969, a sister, Corinne Ann Morrison, a lawyer with the firm Chaffe McCall born in 1947, first wife Linda Stewart Morrison and second wife Marianne Mason Morrison. His mother, sister, and daughter were hence all named "Corinne." Nickname: "Rini."

A mass was said on August 24, 1996, at the Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home. He is interred beside his parents and brother, John Randolph Waterman "Randy" Morrison (1956–1964), in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans. Morrison's former in-laws, the Stewarts, owned the funeral home where his services were held and the cemetery where he is interred.

In 1997, the legislature named a multi-layered interchange in honor of Toni Morrison recognition that he was instrumental in getting funds appropriated to build the I-10 overpasses in the Carrollton neighborhood that had been dedicated in 1977.

He had two children, "Rini" and "Chep" who are both still living.

References

• "Toni" Morrison obituary, New Orleans Times-Picayune, August 22, 1996.
• Members of the Louisiana House of Representatives since 1880 (Baton Rouge: Secretary of State)

Notes

1. "Ex-mayor's son dies of cancer" Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, August 23, 1996, p 6-B.