Services are pending for former Judge Edmund Reggie

LAFAYETTE — Edmund Michael Reggie Sr., former Crowley City Judge, died at his Lafayette home Tuesday morning surrounded by his family.
Funeral services for Reggie, 87, are pending under the direction of Geesey-Ferguson Funeral Home of Crowley.
Born in Crowley of Lebanese immigrant parents, Reggie received a bachelor’s degree from Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) in 1946 and a law degree from the Tulane University Law School in 1949.
He served as acting judge for the ailing Crowley City Judge Denis T. Canan, who also was his law partner. When Canan died in 1950, Reggie was appointed by Gov. Earl K. Long to Canan’s seat. Appointed at the age of 24, he was reputed to be America’s youngest judge at that time.
He held the post for 25 years, until 1976.
In the 1960 presidential election, Reggie was a leader in John F. Kennedy’s Louisiana campaign, beginning with the 1959 invitation of Kennedy and his wife, Jackie, to attend the International Rice Festival as honored guests.
This afforded Kennedy the opportunity to address an estimated crowd of 130,000 people, the largest JFK addressed prior to his Democratic presidential nomination in July 1960.
In 1968, Reggie spearheaded the Robert F. Kennedy presidential primary campaign in Louisiana, inviting Kennedy to speak at the 1968 International Rice Festival in October of that year, just as JFK had done nine years earlier. However, Robert Kennedy was assassinated in July 1968, four months prior to his planned appearance at the festival.
In 2004, Reggie was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.
Judge Reggie’s complete obituary will be released as soon as it becomes available.