Harry Connick Sr., longtime district attorney and musician’s father, dies at 97

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE/Gray News) - Harry Connick Sr., who served as the district attorney of Orleans Parish from 1973 to 2003, died at age of 97 on Thursday.

Connick died peacefully at his home in New Orleans with his wife, Londa, and children — Suzanna and musician and actor Harry Connick Jr. — by his side, according to an obituary distributed by Harry Connick Jr.’s publicist. A cause of death was not provided, the Associated Press reported.

Connick defeated incumbent Orleans DA Jim Garrison in 1973.

He won reelection four times, and successfully built biracial support as the city’s political power base shifted to African Americans.

But he was later dogged by questions about whether his office withheld evidence that favored defendants. The issue came to the forefront with a 2011 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a lawsuit filed by John Thompson, who was exonerated after 14 years on Louisiana’s death row for a killing he didn’t commit.

In a 5-4 decision, the high court overturned a $14 million award for Thompson, ruling that the New Orleans district attorney’s office shouldn’t be punished for not specifically training prosecutors on their obligations to share evidence that could prove a defendant’s innocence. In a scathing dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg decried “Connick’s deliberately indifferent attitude.”

The issue was revived in 2014 when a murder conviction against Reginald Adams, imprisoned for 34 years, was reversed. Attorneys for the Innocence Project New Orleans presented evidence that detectives and prosecutors in the case had withheld critical information before Adams’ 1990 conviction.

Adams later received $1.25 million in a court settlement.

Connick repeatedly declined to comment on the cases. However, in 2012 he defended his legacy in an interview with The Times-Picayune tinged with sports references.

“My reputation is based on something other than a case, or two cases or five cases, or one interception or 20 interceptions. Look at the rest of my record. I have more yards than anybody,” Connick told the newspaper.

He added: “I have to look at myself and say this is who I am. This is what I’ve done. Perfect? No. But I’ve done nothing to go to confession about in that office. At all.”

New Orleans’ current district attorney, Jason Williams, expressed condolences to Connick’s family.

“Mr. Connick remains the longest tenured District Attorney, serving from 1973-2003. Such a longstanding public servant gives an enormous amount of themselves to their community — as do their families. Our thoughts are with the Connick family during this difficult time,” he said in a statement.

Connick did not seek re-election in 2003 and was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame.

Born Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Sr in Mobile, Alabama, in 1926, he was the second of eight children of Jessie Catherine and James Paul Connick. When Harry was 2 years old, his family moved to New Orleans.

Connick served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific during World War II. He was a graduate of Loyola University of New Orleans.

He met his first wife, Anita Livingston, while working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Livingston was an accomplished flutist who later became a lawyer and one of the first female judges in New Orleans. They raised their two children in the Lakeview neighborhood.

Anita died of ovarian cancer in 1981. Connick later married Londa Jean Matherne in 1995.

Beyond his legal career, Connick was recognized for his passion for music. As a hobby, he frequently showcased his musical talents as a singer, performing regularly at local clubs. He was nicknamed “The Singing District Attorney” in a Time magazine publication.

Connick nurtured his son into becoming a jazz piano prodigy, partly by arranging for the boy to sit in with New Orleans Dixieland players and legends such as pianist Eubie Blake and drummer Buddy Rich.

He and his son were part of the group that founded the Krewe of Orpheus.

Connick is the uncle of Jefferson Parish DA Paul Connick and State Senator Patrick Connick.

Copyright 2024 WVUE via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.