James Sutterfield

James R. "Jim" Sutterfield, Sr.
Louisiana State Representative for District 26 (Orleans Parish)
Preceded by	Nat G. Kiefer
Succeeded by	Charles Borello (district renumbered)
Born	August 6, 1942 Houston, Texas
Died	November 9, 2018 (aged 76) Touro Infirmary in New Orleans
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	(1) Sara Jackson Sutterfield (2) Teresa Ann Case "Teri" Sutterfield (married 1984-2018, his death)
Children	James R. Sutterfield, Jr. Dana Christen Sutterfield Parents: James Dayton and Alba Spraker Sutterfield
Residence	New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Alma mater	University of Texas Loyola University New Orleans College of Law Tulane University Law School
Occupation	Attorney
Religion	Protestant

James R. Sutterfield, Sr., also known as Jim Sutterfield (August 6, 1942) – November 9, 2018),^[1] was an attorney from New Orleans, Louisiana, who served a half-term as a Republican state representative from 1970 to 1972.^[2]

Biography[edit]

The son of James Dayton and Alba Spraker Sutterfield, he enrolled as a freshman at Tulane University in New Orleans, which he attended until transferring to the University of Texas at Austin in 1962. After completing his undergraduate studies, he enrolled at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law and in 1967, graduated with a Bachelor of Laws. In 1981, he obtained a Master of Laws, with distinction, from the Tulane University Law School, also in New Orleans. He was admitted to the practice of law in Louisiana in 1967 and the District of Columbia and the United States Supreme Court in 1977. His practice through his Sutterfield & Webb firm at 650 Poydras Street concentrates on maritime and insurance law. In 1993, Sutterfield obtained licensing to practice in Texas.^[3][1]

Sutterfield won a special election to succeed Democrat Representative Nat G. Kiefer, who was instead elected to the Louisiana State Senate to fill a vacancy created by a member's death. He was the first Republican to be elected to public office from New Orleans since Reconstruction. He represented District 26, which was broken up by re-districting into single member districts and renamed. The area of his residence became District 100, with the general election held on February 1, 1972.^[4]

Elected at the age of twenty-seven, Sutterfield was the only Republican in the state House during his abbreviated term.^[4] Sutterfield was only the fifth Republican to have served in the Louisiana House since Reconstruction.^[5] In the state Senate, A. C. "Ace" Clemons, Jr. (1921-1992) of Jennings in Jefferson Davis Parish, served as a Republican, but he had been last elected in 1968 as a Democrat, with the second administration of Governor John J. McKeithen.^[6]

He was a member of the Southern Yacht Club and the Bienville Club. In addition to his legal practice for which he had, according to his obituary, "a piercing intellect," he was an expert fisherman and gourmet chef. From January 1997, until his death, he served as Honorary Consul General of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, for the states of Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee, upon appointment of that island nation. In 2015, he became the Dean (presiding officer) of the Louisiana Consular Corps.^[1]

References[edit]