Kenneth Eli Osterberger (April 3, 1930 – August 10, 2016) was an American

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

. He served as a Democratic and later a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

member of the Louisiana State Senate.

Life and career

Kenneth Eli Osterberger was born April 3, 1930, the son of George Breazeale. He attended

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

, where he was a member of

Lambda Chi Alpha Lambda Chi Alpha (), commonly known as Lambda Chi, is a college fraternity in North America which was founded at Boston University in 1909. It is one of the largest social fraternities in North America, with more than 300,000 lifetime members a ...

and served as student body president from 1952 to 1953. Osterberger served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. He was a second lieutenant. In 1969, Osterberger was elected to the Metropolitan Council, the legislative branch of the City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and was then selected by the members of the council to be President Pro Tempore, serving until 1972. In 1971 he was elected as a Democrat to the Louisiana State Senate for

East Baton Rouge Parish East Baton Rouge Parish (french: Paroisse de Bâton Rouge Est) is the most populous parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2010 U.S. census, its population was 440,171, and 456,781 at the 2020 census. The parish seat is Baton Rouge, ...

; he was re-elected four times, in 1975 defeating

David Duke David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American white supremacist, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, far-right politician, convicted felon, and former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1989 to 1992, he was a membe ...

in Duke's first run for public office and in 1983 and 1987 after changing his party affiliation to Republican. In 1992 he was succeeded by

Jay Dardenne John Leigh "Jay" Dardenne, Jr. (born February 6, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who is serving as commissioner of administration for Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards. A Republican, Dardenne served as ...

Personal life and death

Osterberger was married twice, to Margaret Simmons and to Harriet Osterberger, and had four children. He died on August 10, 2016, of Alzheimer's disease, at the age of 86.

References

1930 births 2016 deaths Louisiana state senators Louisiana Democrats Louisiana Republicans 20th-century American politicians Louisiana State University alumni Deaths from Alzheimer's disease {{Louisiana-politician-stub