Richard Kernion, top aide to former mayor, dies at 71
Times Picayune 02-05-2010


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Richard Kernion, a businessman and sportsman who once served as New Orleans' chief
administrative officer and helped the city land its third Super Bowl, died Wednesday of
complications from Guillain-Barre syndrome, a fast-moving paralysis, his family said. He was
71.

Mr. Kernion worked in the private sector most of his life, but from 1971 to 1976 served as
CAO under Moon Landrieu, supervising a City Hall budget of almost $200 million. Mr. Kernion
earlier had served as Landrieu's executive assistant and before that, his co-campaign
manager, helping Landrieu win City Hall in 1970. The two were family by marriage; they wed
sisters.

Kernion was only 33 when he became Landrieu's top aide.

"He was a people person. He was able to win the confidence of people he worked with,
particularly the City Council," Landrieu recalled Friday. "It's not that he had a great
business background at that time, but he was very street smart, and (predecessor) Ben Levy
was a great teacher. But I didn't have the slightest doubt he could do the job. He was a
quick learner, and he was committed. If he had a job to do, it would get done."

While working in City Hall, Mr. Kernion was co-chairman of a civic committee that helped land
Super Bowl IX in 1975, the last of three in Tulane Stadium. After leaving public service Mr.
Kernion joined the Bartlett Chemical Co. He retired as its president about 10 years ago.

Away from work, Mr. Kernion was a gregarious storyteller, a dedicated duck hunter and a blue-
water and inshore fisher, said his son, Richard Kernion Jr. In his retirement in Covington he
helped manage Covington Country Club as a means of staying busy and keeping in constant touch
with people, which animated him, his son said.

Mr. Kernion loved the outdoors. His son said one of his own best memories is of collecting
his father from a brief hospitalization in 2008 for a deep-sea fishing trip where three
generations of Kernions caught, tagged and released blue marlins on a single day. "His
attitude was, don't leave me here," his son recalled. "Anything outdoors, he was into it."

Mr. Kernion was a member of the Southern Yacht Club and was captain of the Tally-Ho Club, a
local hunting and fishing club, his son said.

Besides his son, Mr. Kernion is survived by his wife of 50 years, Marie; a daughter, Amy; two
sisters, Yvette O'Rourke and Sister Jeanne d'Arc of Covington; four brothers, Sidney and
Jerry Kernion, and Paul and Jean de Kernion, who keep the French spelling of the family name;
and two grandchildren.

Visitation will begin Saturday at 10 a.m. at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100
Pontchartrain Blvd. A memorial Mass will follow at noon. Burial will be private.