Louis Ivon, former cop, legislator and Jim Garrison aide, dies at age 78

Louis Ivon, former cop, legislator and Jim Garrison aide, dies at age 78
John Pope
NOLA.com
The New Orleans Times-Picayune
December 19, 2012 at 9:35 PM
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/12/louis_ivon_former_legislator_a.html

Louis Ivon, a former New Orleans police officer and state legislator who was the chief investigator for Orleans Parish District Attorney Jim Garrison during Garrison’s investigation into President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his New Orleans home. He was 78.
louis ivon.jpg Louis Ivon served two terms in the state Legislature.

A lifelong New Orleanian who served two terms in the state House of Representatives, Mr. Ivon graduated from Loyola University with a degree in criminology. He also attended FBI supervisory management schools and went to Texas A&M University, where he was trained to be a certified polygraph examiner.

Mr. Ivon was a police officer for 16 years. During that period, he was assigned to the district attorney’s office, where he succeeded Pershing Gervais as the chief investigator in Garrison’s inquiry into Kennedy’s assassination. Clay Shaw, the only person arrested in what Garrison claimed was a wide-ranging conspiracy, was acquitted in less than an hour by a jury in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court.

Garrison’s aides during that period said in 1983 interviews with The Times-Picayune that Ivon was loyal to his boss and never criticized the investigation. “He was one of the most loyal people I’ve ever known,” Traffic Court Clerk Noel Casanova said. “He was loyal to people, and people were loyal to him.”

He also was unfailingly helpful, said Geraldine “Geri” Ivon, his wife. “If you came to him with a problem, he would listen to you. If he could not help you, he would tell you. If he could help you, he would. He was just a good guy.”

Mr. Ivon stayed with the district attorney’s office for seven years. After retiring from the police force as a sergeant, Mr. Ivon held administrative positions in the Orleans Parish coroner’s office and Magistrate Court. He also ran twice for civil sheriff.

In 1984, he won a special election to succeed state Rep. Ron Faucheux to represent a district that included the Lakefront and most of Gentilly. He won re-election four years later.

After the 1990 census, the district was redrawn, and it gained a black majority. Even though Mr. Ivon, who was white, finished ahead of five black candidates in the 1991 primary, he lost in the runoff to David Armstrong, an African-American making his first bid for public office. Two subsequent attempts to get back into the Legislature, in 1993 and 1997, were unsuccessful.

Mr. Ivon was judicial administrator for New Orleans Traffic Court until his retirement in March.

He was twice elected to the Democratic State Central Committee, and he was a member of the Irish Channel Club, the Knights of Columbus and the American Legion.

In addition to his wife, survivors include three daughters, Charlene Preveau and Darlene Ivon Melvin, both of Slidell, and Patricia Konnecker of New Orleans; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.