Burrell J. Carter

Burrell J. Carter (Louisiana mayor and state court and appellate judge
Born	June 17, 1935 Greensburg, St. Helena Parish, Louisiana, USA
Died	November 11, 2019 (aged 84) Greensburg, Louisiana
Political Party	Democrat
Spouse	Helen Bridges Carter Children: Robby Carter Libby Peak Five grandchildren Parents: Robert T. and Elizabeth J. Carter Alma mater: Greensburg High School Louisiana State University LSU Law Center
Religion	United Methodist

Burrell J. Carter (June 17, 1935 – November 11, 2019) was a Democratic politician and jurist from Greensburg in St. Helena Parish in southeastern Louisiana. He was a judge of the Louisiana 21st Judicial District from 1974 to 2000 and thereafter the state First Circuit Court of Appeal until his retirement in 2012.

Biographical sketch[edit]

A lifelong resident of Greensburg, Carter was the son of Elizabeth J. Carter and Robert T. Carter, who died when Burrell was only four years of age. Carter graduated in 1953 as the valedictorian of Greensburg High School and then attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. In 1956 at the age of twenty-one, he was elected mayor of Greensburg. He graduated first in his 1958 LSU law school class. He served in the United States Army during the Cuban Missile Crisis and rose to the rank of captain.^[1]

He practiced law in Greensburg until 1974, when he was appointed judge of the 21st Judicial District. He was subsequently elected in 2000 to the First Circuit Court of Appeal, of which he presided for a decade as the chief judge. In that capacity, he oversaw the planning and construction of the First Circuit building on Capitol Lake in East Baton Rouge Parish. Even after retirement in 2012, he served on an ad hoc basis on various courts, including multiple times on the Louisiana Supreme Court.^[1]

Carter was a former adjutant general of the Louisiana chapter of the American Legion, president of the 21st Judicial District Bar Association, and a three-term chairman of he Louisiana Conference of Court of Appeal Judges. He contributed many articles to national and state legal journals. For thirty years, he was the chairman of the administrative board of the Greensburg United Methodist Church.^[1]

Carter was married for more than sixty years to the former Helen Bridges.^[1] Their son, Robby Carter, is a Democratic state representative who was reelected by an overwhelming margin against a No Party candidate in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 12, 2019.^[2] He is married to the former Kerry Anthony. The Carters also have a daughter, Libby Peak, and her husband, Craig, and five grandchildren, Taylor Carter Peak, M.D., Captain David Kramer Peak, M.D., Robert Burrell Carter, Helen Ruth Carter, and Jessica C. Ledet,^[1]

Judge Carter died of cancer at his Greensburg home at the age of eighty-four. Services were held in the Greensburg United Methodist Church, with interment at Greensburg Cemetery. His honorary pallbearers included three governors, Edwin Edwards, Murphy J. "Mike" Foster, Jr., and John Bel Edwards, as well as Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain.^[1]

References[edit]