N.O. Item Columnist Dead At 90
Times Picayune 11-11-1996

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Thomas 'Tommy' Griffin, who wrote the 'Lagniappe' column for the New Orleans
Item and then the States-Item for 30 years, died Friday. He was 90.

Griffin, known as a dapper dresser throughout his lifetime, was born above his
father's men's store on Canal Street. He graduated from Jesuit High School and
began his newspaper career in Port Arthur, Texas, starting as a gossip
columnist.

After a stint in the Army during World War II, Griffin came back to New
Orleans and was hired by the Item. He took over the Lagniappe column in the
old New Orleans Item in January 1949. Before that he wrote a 'Roving Reporter'
column in which he covered rural towns in Louisiana and Mississippi.

He left the newspaper in 1958 and became executive director of the
metropolitan New Orleans chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
In 1959, Griffin returned to the merged States-Item and wrote the Lagniappe
column for another 19 years. He retired in 1978.

As the paper's nightlife columnist, Griffin befriended many celebrities with
New Orleans connections, including playwright Tennessee Williams and homegrown
actress Dorothy Lamour. He was a fixture at the old New Orleans nightclubs -
the Blue Room at the old Roosevelt Hotel and the Swan Club at the Monteleone.

"It was an entirely different lifestyle," he told a Times-Picayune reporter in
1991. "Bourbon Street clubs had real shows, there were road houses, the West
End area was alive."

Griffin professed a love for his job, evident in his farewell column, written
Leap Year Day in 1978.

"The years have been fun, I won't deny that,' he wrote. "A column does wonders
in multiplying one's acquaintances, many of whom through the years have become
staunch friends. . . . I take my leave much richer in what's been so aptly
termed 'life's greatest treasure' - friends."

He is survived by a brother, Lynton J. Griffin.

Services will be held at 10 a.m. today at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home
Chapel, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. in Metairie Cemetery. Interment will follow
in Greenwood Cemetery. Visitation will be from 9:30 a.m. until the service.