Ex-N.O. Lawyer, Legislator Claude W. Duke Dies At 90
Times Picayune 01-6-1996

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Claude W. Duke, a retired New Orleans lawyer and former legislator who ran a
spirited but unsuccessful campaign for mayor of New Orleans in 1958, died
Friday at his home in Pass Christian, Miss. He was 90.

A native of New Orleans, Mr. Duke practiced law until 10 years ago, when he
retired to Mississippi.

As a member of the Old Regulars political organization, Mr. Duke was elected
to the state House representing the 14th Ward in 1932. After serving one term,
he won a Senate seat from the Uptown area in 1936.

In the Senate, Mr. Duke was a floor leader for the city's legislative
delegation and forged a close relationship with Mayor Robert Maestri. In 1940,
he joined the Maestri administration, serving as an assistant city attorney
and one of the mayor's closest advisers.

During his term in the Senate, Mr. Duke also began a lasting friendship with
then-Lt. Gov. Earl Long.

When Maestri was voted out of office in 1946, Mr. Duke dropped out of public
life until 1957, when Gov. Long named him president of the Orleans Levee
Board.

Shortly after assuming that post, Mr. Duke entered the New Orleans mayor's
race, challenging longtime incumbent deLesseps "Chep" Morrison, who was
seeking his fourth term. The year before, Long had defeated Morrison in a
bitterly contested governor's race.

Mr. Duke ran with the backing of the Regular Democratic Organization, which
had struggled for years to regain the political clout it lost when Morrison
took office in 1946.

Although Morrison easily won re-election, Mr. Duke remained as Levee Board
president through 1960, when Gov. Jimmie Davis replaced him with Gerald
Gallinghouse. But Mr. Duke remained a member of the board for another eight
years, reappointed by Davis in 1960 and by Gov. John McKeithen in 1964.

During Mr. Duke's tenure, the Levee Board donated the land that became the
campus of Louisiana State University in New Orleans, now the University of New
Orleans.

After leaving public life a second time, Mr. Duke was chief counsel to the
Mississippi River Bridge Authority for several years.

He was a director and attorney for Oak Homestead Association, a director of
Jefferson Savings and Loan Association and a member of Metairie Country Club.

Survivors include his wife, Peggy Wall Duke, and a sister, Evelyn Wirth.

A memorial service will be held Tuesday at 1 p.m. at Hope Mausoleum, 4841
Canal St.

Riemann Funeral Home in Bay St. Louis, Miss., is in charge of arrangements.