Biography of 	Fortier, Edward Joseph;  Orleans Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by 	Mike Miller February 1998

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Fortier, Edward Joseph, was born in New Orleans, La., on Dec. 9, 
1883,. the son of the late distinguished professor and educator, 
Alcée Fortier, who for 35 years occupied the chair of romance 
languages at Tulane university, and of Marie Lanauze, daughter of 
a well-known New Orleans merchant.  From this union were born 4 
other children:  James J. A., a prominent young lawyer;  J. Frank 
and  Gilbert J., Tulane university students, and 1 daughter,  
Jeanne.  On Sept. 11, 1906, the subject of this sketch was married 
to Marie Tricou of an old Louisiana family.  On March 3, 1912, in 
New York city, there was born to them a daughter, Alida-Marie, who 
is the 8th generation in direct line from the St. Malo colonists 
born in the United States, and the first in that long line to be 
born outside of Louisiana.  After attending French private schools 
in New Orleans, Edward J. Fortier was prepared for college at L. 
C. Ferrell 's preparatory school and entered Tulane university in 
1900, where he was graduated in 1904 with the degree of bachelor 
of arts.  Immediately after he began bettering himself for his 
life's work, namely, that of teaching.  Under the guidance, among 
others, of Profs. A. M. Elliott and E. C. Armstrong, he pursued 
higher studies for 2 years in romance languages at the Johns Hopkins
University, after which he formally entered into the career of an 
educator, following in the footsteps of his distinguished father, 
by being called to Yale to teach French.  Rising rapidly to a higher
rank in his chosen profession, Mr. Fortier was called to the 
University of Illinois, where he taught French for 3 years and 
devoted some of his leisure time to further studies in old French 
with Prof. Raymond Weeks.  He was then called again to the East 
and accepted a position of great importance at Columbia University, 
where he is now located and where he has done special research work 
under Profs. Cohn and Todd.  His success there has been so marked 
that he has been offered numerous positions in various institutions 
of learning, 2 of which are in the South.  Mr. Fortier has taught 
French at Notre Dame of Maryland and in the Tulane Summer school, 
giving in both these institutions short courses of 6 and 9 weeks, 
respectively.  He is a frequent lecturer in outside institutions 
and during the last summers of 1913 and 1914 he has lectured on 
French literature at the Lake Champlain Summer assembly, which is 
better known as the Catholic Summer school of America.  Besides 
his teaching and further research, he has held numerous positions 
of trust at the various universities with which he had been 
connected.  At Yale he was secretary of the Modern Language 
club and member of the executive committee of the Connecticut 
Modern Language association.  At Illinois he was secretary of 
the faculty of literature and arts and secretary of the modern 
language department and faculty director of the French club and 
college adviser to students.  At Columbia, college adviser of 
students and in charge of honor work in the romance department, 
a member of the Romance Language club and a member of other 
literary societies.  He has read papers at meetings of the Modern 
Language association of America held at the University of Ohio, 
also papers at the meetings held at the Universities of Chicago 
and Iowa. He has published in the transactions of the Illinois 
State Historical association a paper based upon hitherto 
unpublished French letters: "The Founding of the Tamanois Mission"; 
he presented a long monograph at the first congress of French 
letters held in Quebec in 1912, at which memorable gathering 
there were delegates from all the French speaking sections of
America.  This monograph, somewhat enlarged, is about to appear 
under the title, ''French Letters in Louisiana,'' in the 
transactions of the congress.  He is now preparing a book on 
the French literature of Louisiana.  He has read several papers 
at various special meetings of Romance Language clubs in various
universities.  Among various activities, he is reader in French 
for the college entrance examination board; contributing editor 
to the French review, "Le Pensé de France";  official delegate 
to the "Fédération de l'Alliance Française''; member of the 
Tulane Alumni association; Phi Delta Theta fraternity; Modern 
Language association of America; Louisiana State Historical 
Society; Columbia "University Faculty club, and a subscriber 
to a proposed American national biography, and to numerous 
reviews on literary and pedagogical subjects.  Now 31 years of 
age, Mr. Fortier occupies an enviable position among the members 
of his profession.  His rise has been rapid and his reputation 
as a scholar is already firmly established in the literary world.

Source:  Louisiana:  Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, 
Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic 
Form (volume 3), pp. 166-167.  Edited by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D.  
Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.