Ken Hollis, former state senator from Metairie, dies at 68 Times Picayune 09-10-2010 Times Picayune Submitted by N.O.V.A. ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Ken Hollis, the state senator whose dogged approach to lawmaking helped cement Louisiana as a home for state-sponsored property insurance, legalized gambling and the New Orleans Saints football team, died this morning at Ochsner Medical Center of complications from neuroendocrine cancer. He was 68. A long-time insurance agent who lived in Metairie, Mr. Hollis entered elected office in 1980, running for the Jefferson Parish Council. He spent two years there before running for the state Senate's 9th District, a seat he would hold for the next 26 years. Mr. Hollis made a career of taking hold of larger issues and wrestling them to the ground, said colleagues and friends. "Just a genuinely decent, good, honest and wonderful public servant," said Peppi Bruneau, who represented a New Orleans district in the state House of Representatives while Mr. Hollis was in the Senate. "He was always kind of a mentor to me, in a way." Mr. Hollis was a lifelong Republican who had no trouble putting party dogma aside when an issue became personal. In 2001, he supported a bill to ban discrimination against people based on their real or perceived sexual orientation. He was the deciding vote on a Senate committee that sent the measure to the full chamber, where it was ultimately defeated. A month later, Mr. Hollis told The Advocate, a national gay and lesbian publication, that he supported the bill because one of his sons is gay. But he is better known among his peers for playing to the strength of his hyperactive personality. Bob DeViney, a Metairie Republican and long-time friend, described Mr. Hollis through a word he made up for him: "nervine." "I used to have a hard time calming him down," DeViney said. He recalled how the two of them had driven to Washington for Ronald Reagan's inauguration in 1981 only to head back home at 3 a.m. because Mr. Hollis couldn't sleep at the hotel. They missed the ceremony, DeViney said. Jesse Kendrick Hollis Jr. was born in Alexandria, son of a car dealer. He graduated from Bolton High School in 1960 and Louisiana Tech University in 1964. His personality and his father's work helped develop his life-long passion for classic cars. While his business was insurance, his hobby was swapping, selling and collecting automobiles. His fleet held a 1957 Chevrolet, a 1991 Acura NSX and a 1999 Plymouth Prowler, said businessman Henry Shane, a friend a fellow car enthusiast. Shane recalled Mr. Hollis once sold him a McLaren convertible for about a $400 profit and had a sign made afterward. "I made money on Henry Shane," Shane recalled it saying. Mr. Hollis was a proponent of bringing legalized gambling to New Orleans and its metropolitan area. In the 1990s, he helped pass legislation that paved the way for video poker and, later, casinos. He put his understanding of the insurance business to use as he championed the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to be the state-mandated insurance group of last resort, said Jim Donelon, a state representative from Metairie during Mr. Hollis' tenure in the Senate and now Louisiana's insurance commissioner. After its inception in 2003, the nonprofit became a haven for property owners with nowhere left to turn as prices skyrocketed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. "I always found him to be engaged, bright, honest and hardworking," Donelon said. Mr. Hollis also beat the drums to keep the Saints in New Orleans. In 2001, he announced a grassroots campaign, Save Our Saints, to combat rumblings in team owner Tom Benson's camp about possibly moving the team. "Ken was out there long before it was ever fashionable to say save the Saints," Shane said. "Now everybody would say that, but at the time he was a voice in the wilderness." Mr. Hollis continued his push to hold onto the franchise, helping to beat back talk of moving the Saints to San Antonio after Katrina and its devastation to the Superdome. "His passing comes a day after the unveiling of the Saints' Super Bowl Champion banner in the Superdome commemorating the Saints' victory - a team he worked to keep right here in Louisiana and a team that has brought so much joy to our people. His accomplishments were many, and our hearts and prayers go out to Ken's family," Gov. Bobby Jindal said. In Jefferson Parish, Mr. Hollis may be best known for championing the building of the Jefferson Performing Arts Center, a cultural lynchpin that has seen its fair share of controversy since its inception. Mr. Hollis was influential in securing milliions of dollars from the state to begin building the center at LaSalle Park in Metairie. After years of design and construction flaws and a burgeoning budget, it's expected to be completed in 2011. He also won applause from north shore commuters -- and Metairie motorists alike -- when he persuaded Lake Pontchartrain Causeway officials in 1999 to quit collecting tolls on the south end of the bridge and instead double the toll on the north end. The move eased afternoon congestion on Causeway Boulevard in Metairie. Mr. Hollis toyed with running for other offices -- governor in 2003, Jefferson Parish president four years later -- but ultimately retired from elected office when he left the Senate in 2008. Term limits had prevented him from running again for his 9th District seat. Survivors include his wife, Diane; sisters Maud Hartley and Anne Johnson; six children and stepchildren, Jesse "Trey" Hollis III of Fayetteville, Ark. Michael Hollis of New Orleans, Casie Woods of Mobile, Ala., and Paul Hollis, Heather Menendez and Jennifer Stephens of Mandeville; and seven grandchildren and step- grandchildren. The funeral service will be held Monday at 2 p.m at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home. Visitation hours will be Sunday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Monday beginning at 11 a.m. A memorial service commemorating Mr. Hollis' 28 years in elected office will be held Tuesday at 11 a.m in the Old State Capitol in Baton Rouge.