Yenni Beat Political Odds But Loses To Bone Disease
10-06-1995 Times Picayune

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Michael Yenni, who followed his revered father as Jefferson
Parish president, helped push through major reforms to parish
government and carved out his own legacy as an immensely popular
politician, died Thursday morning after a 10-month battle with a
bone-marrow disease.

Yenni, just three weeks shy of his 45th birthday, died at 10:43
a.m. at his Kenner home, with his wife, Susan, at his side.

The popular two-term parish president died of complications from
myelofibrosis, a rare bone-marrow disease that blocks the
production of red blood cells and weakens the body's ability to
fight illness.

Yenni first contracted the disease 20 years ago, but recovered
despite being told he had only seven months to live. But when
the disease returned in November, the complication of a failing
liver made another recovery improbable.

"He suffered tremendously," said Fred Stoulig, a lifelong friend
who saw Yenni almost daily the past few months. "But as much as
he suffered, he never complained. He was an incredible fighter."

Survivors include his mother, Lucille; a sister, Peggy Yenni
Maunoir; and three children - Rachael, 12, Joseph, 7, and
Michael, 2.

Yenni was the son of Joe Yenni, one of the most respected
politicians in parish history. Mike Yenni was remembered by
friends and colleagues Thursday as a tireless worker who valued
integrity over the art of political deal making and entered
politics hesitantly - only to continue the programs and policies
of his late father.

"Mike Yenni, above everything else, was a good, decent man you
could trust," said Metairie lawyer Pat LeBlanc, who was
appointed by Yenni in 1992 to the parish's charter review
committee. "He represented the best politics had to offer."

Despite being the son of a famous political figure, Yenni showed
no interest in politics until his father died in 1987. It was
then that he began a drive that eventually led to an underdog
victory over the parish's power brokers.

Days after Joe Yenni died, council members chose an interim
successor - Councilman Willie Hof - who immediately announced he
would run to complete Joe Yenni's term.

In an interview two weeks ago, Yenni and his wife said they were
outraged at the anointment process.

"It was three days after my daddy was put in the grave, and it
was a done deal," Yenni said. "That just seemed wrong."

Hof was endorsed by most of the parish's politicians.

"Most of us went with Willie Hof because he didn't have any
baggage and was a good candidate," Council Chairman Bob Evans
said. "And to tell the truth, we just didn't know Mike Yenni."

Ron Nabonne, a friend who was working with Yenni at New Orleans
International Airport at the time, said he remembers the
improbable matchup of Michael Yenni against the establishment.

"He had his Dad's name, and a little bit of money and that was
it," Nabonne said. "But he was just a down-to-earth decent guy,
and he did the unthinkable."

In a bitter election, Yenni finished 164 votes ahead of Hof with
93,000 cast. He won more convincingly in the runoff. Hof later
dropped out of the race for a full four-year term.

The two men had each spent $450,000 and Yenni - with a marketing
degree, stints at the Louisiana Superdome and New Orleans
International Airport but no political experience - had beaten
huge odds.

"That was an incredible political upset," Kenner Mayor Aaron
Broussard said. "Mike literally ran against the political fabric
of Jefferson Parish."

But it almost didn't happen. In the recent interview, Yenni
remembered a feeling of dread after topping Hof in the first
election. He was out of money and dead set against going into
debt with a young child at the time.

So at a campaign celebration breakfast the next day at
Brennan's, he told his advisers he had decided to drop out.

"The people were shocked. They couldn't believe it," Yenni said.

Eventually, supporters adept at fund-raising convinced Yenni his
front-runner status meant he could attract more contributions.
He stayed in the race.

By his own admission, Yenni stumbled often and learned on the
job in his first few years as parish president. Or as Paul
Connick Jr. put it: "It was like the dog who caught the car.
'What do I do now?' "

Slowly, Yenni gained experience and cemented his popularity.
Before he died, his campaign war chest stood at more than
$620,000 - dwarfing all parish officials' campaign accounts
except that of Sheriff Harry Lee.

And a recent poll showed him with a favorable rating of 84
percent.

Despite a sometimes rocky relationship with the Parish Council,
due in part to the limited power of the presidency, Yenni helped
pushed through reforms to the Parish Charter that led to a
public vote enacting veto power for the president and term
limits for all elected officials.

"When we first started, the expectation was this was a project
that was going nowhere because Mike didn't have the stroke to
make it happen," said LeBlanc, chairwoman of the charter
commission. "But it turned out to be a major victory."

Yenni said he was proud to start curbside recycling and to
establish the first suburban college campus in the parish - a
University of New Orleans satellite branch.

He also was proud of scaling back parish government by using
private contractors and establishing the Jefferson Economic
Development Commission.

Perhaps his greatest legacy, he said, is a $200 million urban
flood program - a process that should culminate in two to three
years with a huge check from the federal government for projects
such as concrete-lined drainage canals.

"It's a real quality-of-life project, and that's what I think is
most important to the people of the parish," he said.

Tributes to Yenni began to flow shortly after word of his death.
Parish officials announced Thursday that all parish office
buildings will close at 1 p.m. today in memory of Yenni. Also on
Thursday, the New Orleans City Council held a moment of silence
for him and agreed to prepare a proclamation to send to Yenni's
family.

New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial said in a statement that he was
"deeply shocked and saddened" by Yenni's death. "Mike Yenni was
an outstanding public official, possessing honesty and integrity
beyond reproach. On behalf of the citizens of our city, we will
miss Mike Yenni and his visionary leadership. Our prayers and
thoughts will be with his wife and children."

Tim Coulon, the parish's chief administrative assistant who is
campaigning to succeed Yenni, said Thursday he has temporarily
suspended his campaign.

"He was an honorable, decent, deeply compassionate man who gave
unsparingly of himself to do what was right for the people of
Jefferson Parish," Coulon said. "In the last few months, he
inspired awe as well, for the courageous way he handled the
terrible illness that ended his life."

In March, Yenni appointed Coulon as acting parish president and
never returned to full-time status. Two months ago, he announced
he wasn't running for re-election, because of his health.

Through it all, despite being told six weeks ago that he had
only two weeks to live, he refused to talk about dying.

In fact, Paul Connick Jr. said he and other friends had planned
a trip Saturday to Oxford, Miss., for Yenni to watch an Ole Miss
university football game.

Though a graduate of Loyola University, he attended the
University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg and started
his affection for Ole Miss then, Connick said.

"God, he was a fighter," Connick said. "He never gave up. The
Ole Miss trip was just an example. We were going to go in an
ambulance."

Susan Yenni said the family grew even closer as her husband
fought the disease. She remembered Rachael walking into the
bedroom a few weeks ago with an announcement about her future.

"She said she knew what she wanted to do with her life," Susan
Yenni said. "She said she wanted to be a doctor and find a cure
for myelofibrosis."

Yenni said he was overwhelmed by the public support and
encouragement, and saddened that he would not be able to return
to office.

He said if he could not beat the illness a second time, he hoped
he would be remembered as man who always tried to do his best.

"I would like to be remembered as a hard worker, a person who
gave it more than eight hours a day - that's for sure - someone
who tried to do as good a job as possible and tried to do it
from the honest side."