In A Flash

Former Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster enters hospice

By: Jarvis DeBerry - September 28, 2020 6:40 pm

Former Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster, 90, has entered hospice care, according to multiple news reports. Jeremy Alford, the publisher of LaPoliticsWeekly, tweeted Monday that Foster, the 53rd governor of the state, was a terminal patient and that members of his family “extend their continued gratitude for the prayers & well wishes.”

Shortly thereafter, Gov. John Bel Edwards tweeted that he and his wife Donna Edwards “ask that you join us in lifting up former Governor Mike Foster and his family in prayer that they may find comfort and peace during this difficult time.”

Donna and I ask that you join us in lifting up former Governor Mike Foster and his family in prayer that they may find comfort and peace during this difficult time. #lagov

— John Bel Edwards (@LouisianaGov) September 28, 2020

Foster, a Republican, served two terms as governor, from 1996 to 2004.

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Jarvis DeBerry

Jarvis DeBerry, former editor of the Louisiana Illuminator, spent 22 years at The Times-Picayune (and later NOLA.com) as a crime and courts reporter, an editorial writer, columnist and deputy opinions editor. He was on the team of Times-Picayune journalists awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service after that team’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the deadly flood that followed. In addition to the shared Pulitzer, DeBerry has won awards from the Louisiana Bar Association for best trial coverage and awards from the New Orleans Press Club, the Louisiana/ Mississippi Associated Press and the National Association of Black Journalists for his columns. A collection of his Times-Picayune columns, “I Feel to Believe” was published by the University of New Orleans Press in September 2020.