LAFAYETTE, La. — Patrick “Pat” Lewis, a longtime Lafayette public official who served as the first chairman of the city’s reconstituted five-member City Council, died unexpectedly, Lafayette Consolidated Government sources said Tuesday. No cause of death or funeral arrangements have been announced.
Local leaders recall a career in public service
Lewis, who had deep roots in Lafayette, served on the nine-member City-Parish Council before voters approved a Home Rule Charter amendment in December 2018 that split that body into separate city and parish councils. He was elected to the City-Parish Council in 2015 and won the City Council District 1 seat in 2019, becoming one of four members of the old council to transition to the newly created bodies.
When the separate City Council convened for the first time in January 2020, colleagues selected Lewis as the council’s first chairman, a role he held during a pivotal period of institutional change. Council Chair Kenneth Boudreaux announced Lewis’ passing on Facebook and issued a statement highlighting Lewis’s humility and generosity.
“His passing was sudden,” Kenneth Boudreaux wrote, remembering Lewis’s humility and generosity.
Career and community ties
A lifelong Lafayette resident, Lewis graduated from Lafayette High School and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. His professional life included a mix of private business and public-sector service.
- Worked 14 years in banking
- Served 26 years with the Lafayette Parish School System, including 18 years in transportation
- Owned several small businesses, including a grocery store, a mortgage company and a medical transportation service
Lewis’s 2019 campaign biography noted that, within his 26 years with the school system, the majority of his time was spent in the transportation department and that he later served as an auditor in the sales tax division. The biography also identified his wife, the former Tracy Mouton, two children and one grandson.
Role in charter debate and council leadership
During the 2018 charter debate over whether to split the City-Parish Council, Lewis proposed an alternative plan that would have kept the nine-member council but weighted members’ votes on city issues according to their districts. That proposal did not carry, and voters approved the charter amendment that created the separate five-member city and parish councils.
After winning his City Council seat in 2019, Lewis was chosen by fellow council members to serve as chair when the new council formed in January 2020. Liz Hebert was selected as vice chair. In January 2021, Lewis proposed a council resolution to create a “Pr” — the publicly available report on that item in the source material was incomplete — indicating his continued activity in policy discussions as chair.
| Role | Years / Details |
|---|---|
| Banking | 14 years |
| Lafayette Parish School System | 26 years (18 years in transportation; remainder as sales tax auditor) |
| City-Parish Council | Elected in 2015; served as vice chairman |
| City Council | Won District 1 seat in 2019; selected as first chairman in 2020 |
Colleagues and community members will be watching for official details about cause of death and funeral arrangements. In the meantime, local officials have publicly expressed shock at the sudden loss and offered remembrance of Lewis’s decades of service to Lafayette.
Lewis’s mix of private-sector experience and long tenure in public roles — from school transportation and sales tax auditing to elected office — made him a familiar figure in city government during the transition to the restructured City and Parish Council system. His leadership during the early days of the new City Council helped establish practices and precedents for the body that now deliberates city policy.
As the community awaits further information, Lewis is being remembered in public statements for his service, his local roots and his reputation for humility and generosity.
