Kenneth Eli Osterberger (April 3, 1930 – August 10, 2016) was an American

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. He served as a Democratic and later a Republican member of the

Louisiana State Senate The Louisiana State Senate (; ) is the upper house of Louisiana’s legislature. Senators serve four-year terms and participate in various committees. Composition The Louisiana State Senate has 39 members elected from single-member districts ...

. In all, he served 20 years in the state senate from 1972 to 1992.

Life and career

Kenneth Eli Osterberger was born April 3, 1930, the son of George Breazeale. He attended

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

, where he was a member of

Lambda Chi Alpha Lambda Chi Alpha (), commonly referred to as Lambda Chi, is a fraternities and sororities, collegiate fraternity in North America. With over 300,000 initiates as of 2024, it is the third-largest social fraternity in the world by number of initia ...

and served as student body president from 1952 to 1953.

Korean War

Osterberger served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. He was a second lieutenant.

Louisiana politics

In 1969, Osterberger was elected to the Metropolitan Council, the legislative branch of the City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and was then selected by the members of the council to be President Pro Tempore, serving until 1972. In 1971 he was elected as a Democrat to the

for

East Baton Rouge Parish East Baton Rouge Parish (; ) is the most populous List of parishes in Louisiana, parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Its population was 456,781 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The county seat, parish seat is Baton Rouge, Louis ...

; he was re-elected four times, in 1975 defeating

David Duke David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American politician, neo-Nazi, conspiracy theorist, and former grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1989 to 1992, he was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for the ...

in Duke's first run for public office and in 1983 and 1987 after changing his party affiliation to Republican. In 1992 he was succeeded by

Jay Dardenne John Leigh "Jay" Dardenne, Jr. (born February 6, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who served as commissioner of administration for Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards. A Republican, Dardenne previously se ...

Personal life and death

Osterberger was married twice, to Margaret Simmons and to Harriet Osterberger, and had four children. He died on August 10, 2016, of

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

, at the age of 86.

References

1930 births 2016 deaths Louisiana state senators Louisiana Democrats Louisiana Republicans Louisiana State University alumni Deaths from Alzheimer's disease 20th-century members of the Louisiana State Legislature {{Louisiana-politician-stub