The former civil rights attorney, who became the first black justice on the Louisiana Supreme Court, died Sunday at the age of 84.

The Associated Press dedicated almost 19 inches of story to Ortique while the New Orleans Times-Picayune gave him double that in its Monday edition.

During the 1950s and ’60s, Ortique led efforts in the state to integrate labor unions and represented black workers in lawsuits seeking pay equal to their white counterparts. In 1958, Ortique was elected to the first of five terms as president of the Urban League of Greater New Orleans.

Advertisement

A year later, he was elected president of the National Bar Association, an association of black lawyers and judges. He served three terms as president of the Community Relations Council, a biracial group in New Orleans.

Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Kitty Kimbal told The Associated Press Ortique was one of the finest judges she ever had the privilege with which to work.

Kimball, who took her seat on the court in 1992, one day before Ortique did, went on say she never knew anyone who did not like Ortique.

“He exemplified the word gentleman,” she said.

The Times-Picayune reported Sunday that in the mid-1960s, when Ortique led the National Bar Association, he lobbied President Lyndon Johnson to appoint black judges to the federal bench. Johnson later nominated Thurgood Marshall, who became the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sybil Morial, widow of New Orleans’ first black mayor Ernest “Dutch” Morial, and mother of former Mayor Marc Morial, said Ortique’s role in the early civil rights movement is not widely known.

“There were many factions then working for various things — boycotts for jobs, use of restrooms, lunch counters,” she said, according to the Associated Press. “He was one of the negotiators for all the groups. He had credibility with both the white and black communities.”

Ortique was born in New Orleans and served four years as an Army officer during World War II, when he was deployed to the Pacific theater. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Dillard University and eventually a law degree from Southern University.

One of the only sad parts of Ortique’s story was its final location. The lifelong New Orleans resident died in Baton Rouge. He and his wife, Miriam Marie Victorianne Ortique, moved to the state capital after Hurricane Katrina ruined their home.

The couple planned to return but Ortique died before home repairs were complete.

STEPHENHEMELT

CITYEDITOR