Harvey Peltier Jr.

{{short description|American politician}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|name=Harvey Andrew Peltier Jr.

|image =

|imagesize =

|office=Louisiana State Senator from Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes

|party=Democrat

|term_start=1964

|term_end=1976

|preceded=A. O. Rappelet

|succeeded=Ron J. Landry

|office2=President of the University of Louisiana System

|term_start2=1975

|term_end2=December 5, 1980

|preceded2=First in the position

|succeeded2=William C. Broadhurst

|birth_date={{birth date|1923|1|18}}

|birth_place=Thibodaux, Louisiana, US

|death_date={{death date and age|1980|12|5|1923|1|18}}

|death_place=

|death_cause=

|alma_mater=

|occupation=

|spouse=Irma Geheeb "Mickey" Peltier (m. 1945)

|children=3

|relations=Harvey Peltier Sr. (father)

|branch=

|footnotes=

}}

Harvey Andrew Peltier Jr. (January 18, 1923 – December 5, 1980) was from 1964 to 1976 a member of the Louisiana State Senate from District 21, which included Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes in South Louisiana. He served alongside Claude B. Duval, senator from Terrebonne and St. Mary parishes.{{cite web|url=http://senate.la.gov/Documents/Membership/Documents/SenateMembership1880ForwardRevisedMar2011.pdf|title=Membership in the Louisiana State Senate, 1880-Present|publisher=senate.la.gov|access-date=October 16, 2013|archive-date=April 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404072507/http://senate.la.gov/Documents/Membership/Documents/SenateMembership1880ForwardRevisedMar2011.pdf|url-status=dead}}

Peltier resided in his native Thibodaux, Louisiana. At the age of twenty-five, he was a delegate to the 1948 Democratic National Convention held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which nominated the Truman-Barkley ticket.{{cite web|url=http://klax-tv.com/2014-la-political-hall-of-fame-inductees-selected/|title=2014 LA Political Hall of Fame Inductees Selected, September 27, 2013|publisher=KLAX-TV|access-date=October 16, 2013}} He was appointed in 1975 by Governor Edwin Edwards as a trustee of the University of Louisiana System and was its first president from 1975 until his death in 1980.{{cite web|url=http://www.ulsystem.net/index.cfm?md=newsroom&tmp=detail&articleid=74&printer=1|title=History|publisher=ulsystem.net|access-date=October 16, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017062642/http://www.ulsystem.net/index.cfm?md=newsroom&tmp=detail&articleid=74&printer=1|archive-date=October 17, 2013|url-status=dead}}The Chacahoula University of Louisiana at Monroe yearbook, 1976, p. 300

Peltier's father, Harvey Peltier Sr., an attorney, banker, and horse breeder, a political confidante of and a campaign manager for Governor and U.S. Senator Huey Pierce Long Jr.{{cite web|url=http://si.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1079050/index.htm|title=Pot Of Gold For A Nervy Cajun, September 19, 1966|publisher=Sports Illustrated|access-date=October 16, 2013}} was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1924 to 1929{{cite web|url=http://house.louisiana.gov/H_PDFdocs/HouseMembership_History_CURRENT.pdf|title=Membership of the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-Current|publisher=house.louisiana.gov|access-date=October 16, 2013|archive-date=October 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006105414/http://house.louisiana.gov/H_PDFdocs/HouseMembership_History_CURRENT.pdf|url-status=dead}} and held the same senate seat as his son, from 1930 to 1940. Peltier Sr. also served on the former Louisiana State Board of Education as the elected member from Louisiana's 3rd congressional district.The Lagniappe, Louisiana Tech University yearbook, 1970, p. 32

Peltier's mother was the former May Ayo. He had a sister, Bernice P. Harang, and three brothers, Donald Louis Peltier, Richard Benton Peltier, and Dr. James R. Peltier Sr., a Thibodaux oral surgeon, a founder and president of the Louisiana Society of Oral Surgeons, and member of the "good government" groups the Public Affairs Research Council and the Council for a Better Louisiana.{{cite web|url=https://obits.theadvocate.com/obituaries/theadvocate/obituary.aspx?n=james-r-peltier&pid=196229654&fhid=14164|title=James R. Peltier|publisher=The Baton Rouge Advocate|date=May 22, 2020|access-date=June 30, 2021}} Peltier's brother-in-law, Warren Harang Jr., was a former president of the Thibodaux Chamber of Commerce and the American Sugar Cane League, a member of the Lafourche Parish School Board, and the mayor of Thibodaux from 1968 to 1978, 1986–1990, and 1994–1998.{{cite web|url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/terrebonne/obits/2005/0511/warrenharangjr.txt|title=Katina A. Gaudet, Former Thibodaux mayor died this morning at 84, November 2, 2005|publisher=usgwarchives.net|access-date=October 17, 2013}}

In 1945, Peltier married Irma Mary Geheeb (1924-2014), the third daughter of Albert John and Cleo Belou Geheeb. Known as "Mickey", she graduated from the former Ursuline College, now Ursuline Academy, in her native New Orleans. The Peltiers lost an infant son in 1952 and have three surviving children, Patricia P. Crum, Harvey "Drew" Peltier III, and wife Linda, and Mary Ellen Peltier.{{cite news|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theadvocate/obituary.aspx?n=irma-mary-mickey-geheeb-peltier&pid=171416553&fhid=14161#sthash.Dzs07ufX.dpuf|title=Irma Mary "Mickey" Geheeb Peltier|newspaper=Baton Rouge Morning Advocate|access-date=June 22, 2014}} Peltier's son-in-law, John Mitchell Crum (1945-2012), was a district attorney of the 40th Judicial District of St. John the Baptist Parish.{{cite news|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/houmatoday/obituary.aspx?pid=157470501#sthash.Bd0aqMYn.dpuf|title=John Crum obituary, May 4, 2012|newspaper=The Houma Courier|access-date=October 16, 2013}}

In February 2014, four months before the death of his wife, Peltier Jr. was posthumously inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield. Peltier's colleague in the Louisiana House, Richard P. "Dick" Guidry of Lafourche Parish, was inducted in the same ceremony.