Patrick T. Caffery

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American politician (1932–2013)

title: "Patrick T. Caffery" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1932-births", "2013-deaths", "people-from-st.-mary-parish,-louisiana", "people-from-new-iberia,-louisiana", "louisiana-lawyers", "democratic-party-members-of-the-louisiana-house-of-representatives", "university-of-louisiana-at-lafayette-alumni", "louisiana-state-university-law-center-alumni", "democratic-party-united-states-representatives-from-louisiana", "people-from-franklin,-louisiana", "20th-century-american-lawyers", "20th-century-louisiana-politicians", "20th-century-united-states-representatives", "20th-century-members-of-the-louisiana-state-legislature"] description: "American politician (1932–2013)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_T._Caffery" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician (1932–2013) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Patrick Thomson "Pat" Caffery, Sr.
image	Patrick Caffery.png
image_size	180px
state	Louisiana
district
term_start	January 3, 1969
term_end	January 3, 1973
preceded	Edwin E. Willis
succeeded	David C. Treen
office2	Louisiana State Representative from Iberia Parish
term_start2	1964
term_end2	1968
preceded2	Fred V. Decuir
succeeded2	At-large delegation:

J. Richard "Dickie" Breaux

Carl W. Bauer

Louisiana | death_cause = | resting_place = Beau Pre Cemetery in Jeanerette, Louisiana | spouse =Anne Leontine Bercegeay (married 1954-2013, his death) | children =Patrick, Jr., Kevin M., and Michael M. Caffery

Six grandchildren | parents =Ralph Earl and Letitia Decuir Caffery | alma_mater=University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Paul M. Hebert Law Center | branch= | battles= | footnotes= Patrick Thomson Caffery, Sr., known as Pat Caffery (July 6, 1932 – December 17, 2013), was an attorney from New Iberia, Louisiana, who formerly served as a Democrat in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1964 to 1968 and then as a U.S. representative from Louisiana's 3rd congressional district from 1969 to 1973.

Early life

Patrick Thomson Caffery, Sr. was born in St. Mary Parish in South Louisiana. His great-great-great-grandfather, Colonel John Donelson, was the co-founder of the City of Nashville, Tennessee. His great-great-great uncle, Andrew Jackson, served as the President of the United States. His grandfather, Donelson Caffery, served as a United States Senator. Pat Caffery was born at Haifleigh Plantation in St. Mary Parish and reared in the parish seat of Franklin. He was the eleventh of twelve children of Ralph Earl Caffery and the former Letitia Decuir. An Eagle Scout, he was selected in 1950 in a nationwide competition by the Boy Scouts of America to present a "State of the Nation" report in the White House to then U.S. President Harry S. Truman.

He graduated in 1955 from Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette),

Career

Caffery defeated fellow Democrat Edwin E. Willis, a 20-year incumbent, and a committee chairman, in the primary election held in August 1968. Two years earlier, Willis had survived the challenge waged by the Republican oilman Hall Lyons of Lafayette, the younger son of GOP state chairman Charlton Lyons.

In 1970, at the behest of Governor John McKeithen, U.S. Senator Russell Long (who considered Caffery a formidable challenger to his U.S. Senate seat) and U.S. Representative Edwin Edwards, (who feared a challenge by Caffery in Edwards' planned 1971 gubernatorial race) the Louisiana Legislature gerrymandered Caffery's district to remove his stronghold of Lafayette Parish (moving it to Edwards' 7th District) and replace it with portions of Jefferson Parish, in which they thought he would fare poorly.

In spite of this opposition from the Democratic political machine, Caffery polled extremely well in Jefferson Parish and even more so in the rest of the district and easily defeated the Machine candidate, State Senator Jules Mollere of Jefferson Parish in the 1970 Democratic Primary. Caffery ran without opposition in the general election in both 1968 and 1970.

Caffery did not seek a third term in 1972 and returned to his law practice in New Iberia.

Personal life

In 1954, Caffery married Anne Leontine Bercegeay of Charenton in St. Mary Parish. There are three Caffery sons, Patrick, Jr., Kevin, and Michael.

Death

Caffery died in New Iberia at the age of eighty-one a week before Christmas, 2013. He is interred at Beau Pre Cemetery in Jeanerette in Iberia Parish.

Notes

| before=Fred V. Decuir | title=Louisiana State Representative from Iberia Parish | years=1964–1968 | after=At-large delegation:

J. Richard "Dickie" Breaux,

Carl W. Bauer,

Lionel Laperouse, Jr.}} | state = Louisiana | district = 3 | before=Edwin E. Willis | years=1969–1973 | after=David C. Treen

References

"Caffery, Patrick Thomson (1932-2013)". bioguide.congress.gov.
See also [[Jefferson Caffery]].
(December 19, 2013). "Patrick Caffery, Sr.". Pellerin Funeral Home.
(October 2009. In 1956, he received a law degree from the [[Paul M. Hebert Law Center]] at [[Louisiana State University]] in [[Baton Rouge]]. He was the managing editor of the ''Louisiana Law Review''."Louisiana: Caffery, Patrick Thomson", ''Who's Who in American Politics, 2003-2004'', 19th ed., Vol. 1 (Alabama-Montana) (Marquis Who's Who: [[New Providence, New Jersey). New Providence]], [[New Jersey]], 2003), p. 772

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