Raymond Blanco Bio, Wiki

Raymond Sindo Blanco was born on August 16th, 1935. He is an American academic administrator and football coach who served as the First Gentleman of Louisiana from 2004 to 2008 during the gubernatorial tenure of his wife, then Governor of Louisiana Kathleen Blanco. Blanco, the first man to serve as First Gentleman of Louisiana, was also nicknamed “The first Coach” during his tenure in the position.

Raymond Blanco Education

Raymond Blanco was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. He received his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and political science from the former St. Benedict’s College (now part of Benedictine College) in Atchison, Kansas, in 1958.

Raymond Blanco Career

Blanco worked as an administrator at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette as from 1982 until his retirement in 2009. He was the Vice President for Student Affairs, responsible for coordinating various non-academic departments which relate directly to UL Lafayette students. Blanco also serves as a link between the student body and the university. He is known as “Coach” on the campus of UL Lafayette.

Raymond Blanco Football Coaching Career

Blanco served as Assistant Football Coach at Kirwin High School in Galveston, Texas and Head Football Coach at Catholic High School in New Iberia, Louisiana between the years 1958-1962.  He led the Catholic High team to win the State Championship in 1962. From 1963 to 1969, Blanco served as Assistant Football Coach at then USL under the direction of Coach Russ Faulkenberry.

Blanco became Dean of Men in 1969. With the merger of the offices of the Dean of Men and Dean of Women, Blanco was named as USL’s Dean of Student Personnel in 1972. In 1974 he became the Chief Student Officer for the university functioning as the Dean of Students and overseeing the operations of the entire student welfare area. Since the fall of 1982, Mr. Blanco has served in the capacity of Vice President for Student Affairs. His duties have remained unchanged.

Blanco’s transition from football coach to Dean of Men came as a result of the university’s need to find an administrator capable of understanding and quelling the severe student unrest which plagued USL (and universities around the country) in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Raymond Blanco & Kathleen Blanco; Their Marriage & Children

On August 8, 1964, Raymond Blanco married his wife, Kathleen Blanco until her death on August 18th, 2019. The couple had four daughters: Karmen, Monique, Nicole, and Pilar and two sons: Ray Jr., and Ben.

Who is Kathleen Blanco? Former Governor of Louisiana; Her Death & Cause

Kathleen Babineaux Blanco was born on December 15th, 1942 and died on August 18th, 2019. He was an American politician who served as the 54th Governor of Louisiana from January 2004 to January 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first woman to have been elected as the state’s governor.

In December 2017, Blanco was diagnosed with ocular melanoma metastatic to her liver. In 2018 at a meeting of the civic association, the Council for a Better Louisiana, Blanco said there is “no escape” from the disease as it had metastasized throughout her body and she has “made peace” with her future.

On April 19th, 2019, it was announced that she was in hospice care She died on August 18th, 2019, at the St. Joseph Hospice Carpenter House in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Louisiana’s first female Governor Kathleen Blanco has died according to a statement from her family. She was battling cancer. I covered her both in the legislature and as governor. She was a rare politician who put people before politics. She will be missed. ⁦@WWLTV⁩ pic.twitter.com/q3tHUg3PHu

— Paul Murphy (@PMurphyWWL) August 18, 2019