Former SU Board of Supervisor Baptiste Succumbs to Cancer

Members of the Southern University community are mourning the death of one of their own as on Saturday, March 7 former SU Board of Supervisor Harrison Baptiste passed away. The 64-year-old former SU police chief died after a continual battle with cancer.
Survived by his widow Theresa and their two children, Baptiste was known as a man of action and who could get things done.
“He was a great man…Fair,” said SU Police Department Chief Dale Flowers. “When he said that he was going to do something, you could count on it getting done. I, personally am going to miss him. He was a great supporter of Southern.”
Baptiste graduated from Southern as a business management major and continued to make Baton Rouge a home for himself and his family.
Baptiste also served as chief of security for former Baton Rouge mayor Pat Screen for five years.
The brother of Henry Baptiste, a broadcaster for Southern University, the U.S. Naval veteran was a member of numerous service organizations including the Baton Rouge Fraternal Order of Police, Knights of Peter Claver and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
“He was a trailblazer. He was a good man, one of the best men I’ve ever met, and I am 48 years old,” said Elliot Darensbourg, a friend of Baptiste. “I just hate to see him go.”