Pat Screen

James Patrick Screen Jr., known as Pat Screen (May 13, 1943 – September 12, 1994), was an athlete, attorney, and politician from New Orleans. He was elected in 1980 as the Democratic Mayor-President of East Baton Rouge Parish from 1981–1988.^[1] He had been a quarterback for Louisiana State University and played in the 1966 Cotton Bowl.

Football athlete

Pat Screen was born in New Orleans as the son of James P. Screen (1914–1994) and Rosemary T. Screen (1921–2002). He excelled in football as a high school sophomore at Jesuit High School in New Orleans, where he played in the 1958, 1959, and 1960 seasons, leading his team to state championships.^[2]

He continued this success at LSU in Baton Rouge. In 1963, he sustained a separated shoulder in the fourth game against the University of Miami.^[2] In the 1964 game against LSU's arch-rival Ole Miss, Screen was injured, and played with a heavily taped knee. He hit nine of ten passes in an early 69-yard drive that gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead. In the second quarter, pain forced Screen to yield to Billy Ezell. LSU prevailed 10-9 as the result of an unexpected two-point conversion.^[3]

Screen played in the Cotton Bowl on January 1, 1966, in competition with the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Screen took over for the injured Nelson Stokley and directed the LSU Tigers to a 14–7 upset victory over the heavily favored, unbeaten and second-ranked Razorbacks.^[4] In 1965, Screen was drafted in the tenth round by the Cleveland Browns.^[5]

Screen did not play professionally but returned to the university to earn an LSU law degree. He joined a practice in criminal law in Baton Rouge in 1970. One of his law partners was City Judge Ossie Brown. In 1972 Brown was elected as East Baton Rouge Parish district attorney and served two terms.^[6]

Political career

Screen became active in politics, joining the Democratic Party. In 1971, Screen served on the committee to elect his fellow Democrat Jamar Adcock, a banker from Monroe, as lieutenant governor. They wanted to position him to succeed C. C. "Taddy" Aycock of Franlin in St. Mary Parish, but the latter did not win the governorship. The position was won by Jimmy Fitzmorris, a former New Orleans City Councilman, and he was re-elected to a second term.^[7]

In 1980, Screen won the mayoral position, a combined municipal-parish office in Baton Rouge. He succeeded Democratic incumbent W.W. Dumas of Baker. Re-elected in 1984, Screen appointed a friend, Walter Monsour, a Republican, as his chief administrative officer. The two had first met at a high school football game, renewed their friendship at LSU, and continued their association through law school. Monsour was considered to have been highly successful in alleviating fiscal problems during the second Screen administration. In 2005, he was appointed again to the CAO position by newly elected Democratic Mayor Melvin "Kip" Holden.^[6]

In 1987, Screen and Mary Olive Pierson, his aide during his first term, were indicted on one count each of malfeasance in the misapplication of road project funds prior to his successful re-election campaign in 1984. Screen and Pierson maintained their innocence. Screen said that he had followed the directions of the city attorney and had no idea what crime could have been committed.^[8] State Attorney General William Guste later dismissed the charges on legal grounds.

Screen did not seek a third term in 1988. He was succeeded by fellow Democrat Tom Ed McHugh, who later shifted into the Republican Party.^[9]

Personal life

Pat Screen married the former Kathleen Clare McCall (born 1945). They had one daughter and two sons together. Mary Shannon Screen (born 1969) married a Mr. Beacham and lives in Baton Rouge. James P. Screen, III (born 1970) lives in Austin, Texas. He married the former Danielle Dimisa (born 1972). Thomas McCall "Tommy" Screen (born 1975) lives in New Orleans.^[10]

Screen developed dependence on alcohol and, in his second term as mayor, drugs. Screen was found dead from a drug overdose^[11] in September 1994 at the age of fifty-one in a New Orleans hotel.

His friend and colleague, Walter Monsour, said that Screen slowly succumbed to "inner demons".^[6] At Screen's funeral, Monsour described his friend as "the most talented, passionate person I ever knew, who, unfortunately, was conflicted."^[6] Screen was survived by his wife, three children, and parents. The latter were living in nearby Metairie.^[12] Screen is interred at Resthaven Gardens of Memories and Mausoleum in Baton Rouge.

His son Tommy Screen was chosen in 2008 as the third director of the Loyola University Institute of Politics in New Orleans.^[13] Screen has been a protégé of Democrats John Breaux, a former US Senator frorm Louisiana and political activist James Carville.^[14] He succeeded Ed Renwick, who had directed the institute for 38 years.^[13][14]

References

External links

• "Pat Screen profile". findagrave.com.