Harry Connick Sr., longtime New Orleans district attorney, musician and father of two, including Harry Connick Jr., has died at the age of 97.
A spokesperson for the younger Connick confirmed the death to Fox News Digital on Thursday, saying he passed away peacefully at his home in New Orleans surrounded by his children and wife.
The cause of death has not been disclosed.
Orleans Parish District Attorney Harry Connick Sr. answers questions during a news conference on May 25, 2001 in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Bill Haber/File)
Connick was born in Mobile, Alabama in 1926 and grew up with seven siblings. He survived the harsh years of the Great Depression, enlisted in the Navy in 1945, and served in the South Pacific during World War II.
Connick ran for district attorney of Orleans Parish in 1969, but lost to Jim Garrison. He ran again four years later and ousted the incumbent prosecutor.
Late Sen.Herb Cole will be remembered as a proud Wisconsinite and die-hard Bucs fan.
He was a white politician who was reelected four times and succeeded in building interracial support as the city's political power base shifted to African Americans.
Connick remained undefeated, but after his retirement he was plagued by questions about whether his office was suppressing evidence favorable to the defendant. The issue came to the forefront with the U.S. Supreme Court's 2011 decision in a case brought by John Thompson, who was serving 14 years on death row for a murder he didn't commit in Louisiana.
A lifelong music fan, he began singing in the early 1990s and became a regular performer at nightclubs in New Orleans and around the state, as well as many successful guest appearances with his son.
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A spokesperson for his son said Connick “will be greatly missed, but all who knew him knew that his greatest desire was to spend eternity with God in Heaven.” Ta.
FOX News' Tracy Wright contributed to this report.
