Patrick LeBlanc

Patrick Lynn "Pat" LeBlanc, Sr. (March 21, 1954 - March 10, 2008) was a prominent Lafayette, Louisiana, architect and businessman who was also active in Republican politics. LeBlanc and his pilot perished when their single-engine airplane crashed over northern Vermilion Parish. His death came eleven days before his 54th birthday and only four months after having been defeated in a high-profile race for the Louisiana House of Representatives. His pilot was R. Solomon Reed, Jr. (born May 4, 1947), of Opelousas, the seat of St. Landry Parish in south Louisiana.
In the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 20, 2007, LeBlanc was defeated for the District 43 seat by his fellow Republican, Page Cortez, the choice of influential State Senator Michael J. Michot of Lafayette. The seat was vacated by the retirement of Republican Representative Ernie Alexander of Lafayette. Cortez polled 7,742 votes (55.5 percent) to LeBlanc's 6,218 (44.5 percent).
Early years, education, business
LeBlanc was born in Lafayette to the late L. Jaco LeBlanc and the former Jacqueline Francez. In 1972, he graduated from Acadiana High School. In 1977, he received a bachelor of science degree in architecture from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, then known as the University of Southwestern Louisiana. LeBlanc was a registered architect in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas and a general contractor in those same states excluding Mississippi.
In 2000, LeBlanc received the "Builder of the Year" award from the trade association known as Acadian Home Builders; he was the president of the group in 2006. LeBlanc's architectural firm is called The LeBlanc Group, a family-owned business established in 1957. At the time of his death, LeBlanc was the president of the company and had designed more than twenty-five prisons and correctional centers in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. He was the president of LeBlanc Construction Co., Inc., a general contracting firm that he established in 1984 to build commercial and residential projects. He was also president of LCS Corrections Services, Inc., a privately held prison management company founded in 1990 by the LeBlanc family. LCS is the fifth largest company of its kind in the United States. As a result of this business, he studied to receive an associate's degree in criminal justice from UL in 1999.
In 1996, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor accused former Sheriff Frank Carroll, also a Democrat last elected in 1991, and LeBlanc’s former company, Gulf Coast Corrections, Inc., with providing false and misleading information to the Farmer’s Home Administration to obtain a $3.18 million loan to build the Morehouse Parish Correctional Center. Carroll did not obtain prior approval from the FmHA before LeBlanc designed the facility. FmHA also questioned a $550,000 cost overrun on the prison. Carroll attributed the overrun to items not included in the original bid specifications. There was also a dispute about the number of beds in the prison.

Prior to his death, the LeBlancs had purchased the Wednesday weekly newspaper, Acadiana Gazette. The publisher is Ron Gomez, a member of the Lafayette Parish Republican Committee and a former Democratic member of the Louisiana House from 1980 to 1989 and an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of Lafayette in 1992. Gomez had strongly supported LeBlanc in the House race in 2007.
Five days before the fatal crash, LeBlanc had mailed a five-page survey to "concerned citizens" in Lafayette Parish. The questionnaire asks respondents their opinions on national and local issues, including potential future challengers to City-Parish President Joey Durel, District Attorney Mike Harson, Sheriff Mike Neustrom, Clerk of Court Louis Perret, and the term-limited State Senator Mike Michot.
Last rites
In addition to his mother, LeBlanc was survived by two children from his first marriage, Patrick LeBlanc, Jr. (born ca. 1981), and Liee' LeBlanc (born ca. 1983); two stepsons, Michael Charles Piccione (born ca. 1985) and John M. Picionne, all of Youngsville; two brothers, Maurice LeBlanc, and his wife, Brenda LeBlanc, of Lafayette; Michael LeBlanc and his wife, Julie LeBlanc, of Baton Rouge; his aunt Beverly and her husband, Norris Guidry; his uncle Emile LeBlanc and his wife, Jane LeBlanc, along with their only grandchild & his goddaughter Leah "Camille" LeBlanc. He was preceded in death by his father; his maternal grandparents, Maurice Francez (1905-1977) and Nadine B. Francez (1908-1989), and his paternal grandparents, George and Bernice LeBlanc.
A mass was recited on March 13 at Our Lady of Fatima Roman Catholic Church in Lafayette. Burial was in Greenlawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Lafayette.<ref name=advo/>

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