Michael Wahlder

Michael Moyse "Mike" Wahlder (Louisiana attorney, judge, and diversified businessman)
Born	December 26, 1934 Alexandria, Louisiana, USA Resided in later years in Dry Prong in Grant Parish
Died	August 23, 2020 (aged 85) Alexandria, Louisiana
Political Party	Republican
Spouse	Nurit Pilzer Wahlder (died 1995) Children: Thomas Benjamin Wahlder Michele Wahlder-Kerber Ilana Wahlder Smith Five grandchildren Parents: Isaac and Bernice Mansberg Wahlder Alma mater: Bolton High School (Alexandria) Tulane University Tulane Law School
Religion	Jewish Resting place: Jewish Cemetery in Pineville, Louisiana

Michael Moyse Wahlder, known as Mike Wahlder (December 26, 1934 – August 23, 2020), was an attorney, judge, and businessman from Alexandria and Grant Parish, Louisiana.

He was the son of Isaac Wahlder (1901-1983) and the former Bernice Mansberg (1908-1998).^[1] He graduated from Bolton High School in Alexandria, and Tulane University in New Orleans, from which he received his law degree in 1958. Until his father's death, the two practiced law together in downtown Alexandria. A Republican, Wahlder was appointed by U.S. President Richard M. Nixon as United States Magistrate, a position that the filled from c. 1970 to 1987. He was later a judge of the Social Security Administration.^[2]

Wahlder married the former Nurit Pilzer (1939-1995). After seeing her picture on an Israeli travel brochure, he decided that he would find her whereabouts. Their marriage in 1959 was performed in a Jewish ceremony in Israel. Pictures of the couple appeared in Life, Redbook, and Good Housekeeping magazines. They were also invited to appear on NBC's The Jack Paar Show, the forerunner of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. The couple had three children, Alexandria attorney Thomas Benjamin Wahlder (born 1960) and wife Laurie, Michele Wahlder-Kerber (husband Michael), and the licensed professional counselor Ilana Wahlder Smith (husband Cary) of Monroe. ^[2][3]

In addition to his law practice, Wahlder at various times owned truck stops, bingo parlors, cattle, oil wells, trailer parks, car washes, convenience stores, and hunting camps. He established the village of Creola in Grant Parish to avoid a local ban on the sale of alcohol. He donated land to the Jena Choctaw Indian tribe, which built a casino. He owned the weekly newspaper, The Colfax Chronicle, in the parish seat of Colfax.^[2]

According to his obituary, Wahlder ran for the United States Senate in opposition to former Ku Klux Klan figure David Duke . The obituary said that Wahlder participated in a debate covered in newspapers nationally. However, the office of Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin does not list Wahlder as a Senate candidate in 1990, 1996, or 2016, the three times that Duke ran for the Senate, when he lost, respectively, to Democrats J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., and Mary Landrieu and the Republican John Neely Kennedy.^[4] In 1989, Wahlder contributed $1,000 to the reelection of three-term conservative Republican U.S. Representative Clyde Holloway. Wahlder's mother gave $500 to the Holloway campaign. Wahlder was a world traveler, particularly New York City, Colorado, Florida, Europe, Israel, and Australia. He held a strong interest in history, particularly World War II and the American Civil War. He visited numerous Civil War battlefields and attempted to unearth two Civil War ships from his land. The story was reported in The New York Times. He was also a hunter, fisherman, swimmer, and tennis player. He was known for his social gathering, including parties and Thanksgiving Day dinners. He had a jovial demeanor, curiosity, and eccentricities.^[2]

Wahlder was a strong supporter of the African-American community in Alexandria and a personal friend of the city's first black attorney, Louis Berry (1914-1998). He was a member of the B'nai Israel Synagogue ain Alexandria.^[2]

Some three months before his death while listed as a resident of Rapides Parish, Wahlder filed suit in the 9th Judicial District Court in Alexandria against Baker Hughes, Inc., the successor of Dresser Industries, Inc., after trichoroethylene contamination from the old Dresser plant near Pineville turned up in nearby neighborhoods. Wahlder claimed that TCE contamination on his property was “182 times above the detection limit.”^[5]

Wahlder died in Alexandria at the age of eight-five. Along with his wife and parents, he is interred at the Jewish Cemetery in Pineville.^[2]

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