Harry Lee, 75; Controversial La. Sheriff

Sheriff Harry Lee of Jefferson Parish, a colorful figure in the Louisiana tradition, clashed with black leaders. (By Judi Bottoni -- Associated Press)

Harry Lee, 75, the seven-term suburban New Orleans sheriff whose blunt talk sometimes led to sour relations with black leaders, died Oct. 1 at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans. He had leukemia.

Even in a state with a long history of brash and colorful politicians -- fiery orators such as Huey and Earl Long, country singer Jimmie Davis, the dapper Edwin Edwards -- Mr. Lee cut an uncommon figure: a rotund, white-haired Chinese American with a penchant for Western wear and a love of country music.

His clashes with black leaders as sheriff of the mostly white Jefferson Parish suburb often made news during his nearly three decades as sheriff.

The most recent such disagreement came after Hurricane Katrina devastated the region on Aug. 29, 2005. Mr. Lee's office faced a spike in crime, blamed largely on the illegal drug business that had been dislodged from neighboring New Orleans.

Mr. Lee prompted outrage by suggesting that his deputies could randomly question young black men in high-crime areas. He later abandoned the plan but made no apologies for it.

Earlier in his career, he put up barricades between mostly black New Orleans and mostly white Jefferson Parish. Later, after a rash of robberies in white neighborhoods, he ordered his deputies to arbitrarily stop "young blacks in rinky-dink cars" driving in white neighborhoods. Both times, he quickly backed off.

When nutria, large water-loving rodents, started digging holes in the vital levee system, Mr. Lee sent deputies to hunt them down, displeasing animal rights activists.

All the brouhahas never seemed to hurt popular support for this true rarity in Louisiana politics. Mr. Lee always denied charges of bigotry and said they were hurtful for a man born in the backroom of a Chinese laundry in New Orleans at the height of the Great Depression in 1932.