Fortier, James Joseph Alcée

Submitted by Mike Miller

Fortier, James Joseph Alcée, was born on July 15, 1890, in New Orleans, and is the second son of the late noted educator and historian, Alcée Fortier, and of Marie Lanauze, daughter of Adolph Lanauze, a prominent figure in tile commercial activities of New Orleans in the sixties. After obtaining his early education at a private school and at the College of the Immaculate Conception the subject of this sketch entered the Tulane university of Louisiana and in 1909 obtained the degree of bachelor of arts. Having chosen the law as his profession, he entered the law department of Tulane, securing the degree of bachelor of laws in May, 1912, although he had already been admitted to the bar in December of 1911. Prior to his graduation, during the recesses of Tulane, Mr. Fortier pursued courses in other universities, studying government and constitutional law at Harvard in the summer of 1908, and taking special courses in bankruptcy and property at the Columbia university law school in 1910. As a student Mr. Fortier was very active in all matters appertaining to student activities and was one of the most prominent among his college mates. He began to practice his profession in the office of Congressman Dupré and of Mr. G. L. Dupré, Jr. (Dupré & Dupré), where he remained until March, 1913, when he formed a partnership with Mr. Abner C. Chappuis and Mr. J. C. Menefee under the name of Chappuis, Menefee & Fortier, with offices in the Weis building. Sept. 2, 1913, Mr. Fortier was married by Archbishop Blenk to Marie Rose Gelpi, a member of a very prominent old Creole family of New Orleans. Interested in many fields of activity, Mr. Fortier has been a member of the faculty of the Tulane university of Louisiana, where he taught for 4 years, at the same time being one of the leaders in the athletic matters of the university and president of the Tulane Athletic association and a member of the Tulane Alumni association, as well as a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, of the Legal fraternity, Phi Delta Phi, and of the Theta Nu Epsilon society. Interested also in literary matters, he is a member of the Athénée Louisianais, a society of which his father was president for many years, and which has rendered great services to the French cause, which Mr. James Fortier, like his father, has greatly at heart, belonging as he does to "L'Union Francaise" and "Le Souvenir Francais." Interested in history, e is a very active member of the Louisiana Historical society and is the secretary of the general committee of this society to celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans in Jan., 1915. In civic affairs he is now a member of the Association of Commerce and of the executive committee of the Public School alliance. In politics, Mr. Fortier was the secretary of the recent successful congressional campaign of Congressman Dupré. The duties of the legal profession and his membership in the Louisiana Bar association, along with his political and other numerous activities in which he is interested, make Mr. Fortier one of the prominent young men of this community.

Source: Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 167-168. Edited by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D. Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.