SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) - Gus Mijalis, a Louisiana businessman and close friend of former Gov. Edwin Edwards has died at age 83.
Louisiana news outlets say Mijalis died Tuesday in Shreveport of complications from heart disease. Rose-Neath Funeral Home said the funeral was set for next week.
Mijalis’ business interests include the century-old family-owned Farmers Seafood in Shreveport. He also served on the state Board of Regents for higher education.
But the rotund and jocular Mijalis was best known as a friend, traveling companion and, in the 1980s, a federal court co-defendant - of Edwards, the high-living, four-term governor.
“In my long life, I’ve been fortunate to have many good friends,” Edwards, who last year turned 90, told The Advocate on Wednesday . “None better to me or closer to me than Gus Mijalis. I’ll miss him very much.”
Both men were indicted - and later acquitted - on federal charges involving health care permits. Their 1985 trial in New Orleans was highlighted by the defendants’ out-of-court antics. They included a gathering at a French Quarter bar where Mijalis lumbered to the piano and sang “I Did It My Way.”
Mijalis completed a 20-month sentence in 1997 after pleading guilty in 1995 to bank bribery and fraud charges in an unrelated case.
Despite his scrapes with the law, Mijalis developed a reputation among friends, family and contemporaries for generosity and kindness.
“He had a big heart, and helped a lot of people, Public Service Commission member Foster Campbell, a state senator when Edwards was governor, told The Advocate.
“He never met a stranger,” his nephew, Sammy Mijalis, told The Times of Shreveport . “He would go out of his way to take care of anybody even if he didn’t know that person. That was a big trait of his. He had a gentle heart.”
Visitation is scheduled for 4 to 7 p.m. Monday, March 5, at the Rose-Neath Funeral Home. The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, at St. George Greek Orthodox Church.
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