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

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Fortier, James Joseph Alcée, was born on July 15, 1890, in New 
Orleans, and is the second son of the late noted educator and 
historian, Alcée Fortier, and of Marie Lanauze, daughter of 
Adolph Lanauze, a prominent figure in tile commercial activities 
of New Orleans in the sixties.  After obtaining his early education 
at a private school and at the College of the Immaculate Conception 
the subject of this sketch entered the Tulane university of Louisiana 
and in 1909 obtained the degree of bachelor of arts.  Having chosen 
the law as his profession, he entered the law department of Tulane, 
securing the degree of bachelor of laws in May, 1912, although he 
had already been admitted to the bar in December of 1911.  Prior 
to his graduation, during the recesses of Tulane, Mr. Fortier pursued 
courses in other universities, studying government and constitutional 
law at Harvard in the summer of 1908, and taking special courses 
in bankruptcy and property at the Columbia university law school 
in 1910.  As a student Mr. Fortier was very active in all matters 
appertaining to student activities and was one of the most prominent 
among his college mates.  He began to practice his profession in 
the office of Congressman Dupré and of Mr. G. L. Dupré, Jr. (Dupré 
& Dupré), where he remained until March, 1913, when he formed a 
partnership with Mr. Abner C. Chappuis and Mr. J. C. Menefee under 
the name of Chappuis, Menefee & Fortier, with offices in the Weis 
building.  Sept. 2, 1913, Mr. Fortier was married by Archbishop Blenk 
to Marie Rose Gelpi, a member of a very prominent old Creole family 
of New Orleans.  Interested in many fields of activity, Mr. Fortier 
has been a member of the faculty of the Tulane university of 
Louisiana, where he taught for 4 years, at the same time being one 
of the leaders in the athletic matters of the university and 
president of the Tulane Athletic association and a member of the 
Tulane Alumni association, as well as a member of the Phi Delta 
Theta fraternity, of the Legal fraternity, Phi Delta Phi, and of 
the Theta Nu Epsilon society.  Interested also in literary matters, 
he is a member of the Athénée Louisianais, a society of which his 
father was president for many years, and which has rendered great 
services to the French cause, which Mr. James Fortier, like his 
father, has greatly at heart, belonging as he does to "L'Union 
Francaise" and "Le Souvenir Francais."  Interested in history, 
e is a very active member of the Louisiana Historical society and 
is the secretary of the general committee of this society to 
celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans in Jan., 
1915.  In civic affairs he is now a member of the Association of 
Commerce and of the executive committee of the Public School alliance.  
In politics, Mr. Fortier was the secretary of the recent successful 
congressional campaign of Congressman Dupré.  The duties of the 
legal profession and his membership in the Louisiana Bar association, 
along with his political and other numerous activities in which he 
is interested, make Mr. Fortier one of the prominent young men of 
this community. 

Source:  Louisiana:  Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, 
Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic 
Form (volume 3), pp. 167-168.  Edited by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D. 
Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.