SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL / KMSS) – One of the smartest men to come from Shreveport has passed away after a long battle with diabetes.
Former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer died Monday morning at the age of 77.
Roemer was a four-time US Congressman who represented Louisiana’s fourth congressional district in the 1980s.
Roemer was born in Shreveport and graduated from Bossier High School as a valedictorian in 1960. He entered Harvard University at the age of 16.
After graduating from Harvard Business School, Roemer returned to Northwest Louisiana to work for his father’s computer business.
Roemer later founded two banks before running a successful congressional run in 1980.
“He was someone you definitely listened to and were definitely ready to talk to. When we got together and worked for something related to Louisiana, there was almost no disagreement, ”said Henson Moore, former member of the US House of Representatives.
Roemer started his campaign for governor in 1987 and was a Dark Horse candidate against incumbent Governor Edwin Edwards.
In 1988 Roemer won the governor’s office in a budget reform campaign.
During his tenure, Roemer increased teachers’ salaries, tightened campaign funding laws, legalized the state lottery and river boat gambling.
In the middle of his tenure, Roemer switched political parties from democratic to republican.
Roemer’s Travel Secretary Lawrence Guidry says the move was in large part due to Roemer’s longstanding friendship with President George HW Bush.
“You talked once a week. For example, on Wednesday he called Buddy on the phone for advice. And of course that took four years, ”said Guidry.
To date, Roemer is the only governor in United States history to switch affiliation to a political party during an elected term.
The party change did not prevail because Roemer could not defeat the former KKK leader David Duke in the open primary, which ended his offer for re-election in 1991.
In 2012, Roemer launched a brief offer to become President of the United States, but the campaign never caught on.
Roemer dealt with diabetes for most of his life and led to other health problems later in life.
According to his family, Roemer was surrounded by family when he passed away early Monday morning.
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