Dr. Alfred Newton Delahaye

Dr. Alfred Newton Delahaye, Nicholls State University professor emeritus of journalism, died Thursday, Dec. 30, at St. Joseph's Manor in Thibodaux. He was 92. Visitation will be on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, at St. Thomas Aquinas on the Nicholls campus from 9:30 a.m. until the Mass of Christian burial at 11 a.m. Internment will follow in St. John the Baptist Catholic Church Cemetery in Brusly between Addis and Port Allen. He is survived by a niece, Catherine Delahaye Dunn, and a nephew, Don Anthony Delahaye, both of Houston. He was preceded in death by his parents, Alfred and Lillian Hebert Delahaye, and four brothers: Owen, Tillman, Varney and Leighton. The family wishes to express special thanks to Ms. Michelle Brickley, Ms. Wilena Cannon, Ms. Constance Cassie, Ms. Ja-Nia Cassie and Ms. Sandra Hutchinson for their care and concern. He was born in Brusly on June 4, 1929, and was a 1946 graduate of Port Allen High School. In 1949 he completed a degree in journalism at LSU and then reported for the Franklinton Era-Leader. In the 1950s he completed a master's degree at LSU, served in the U.S. Marine Corps and was managing editor of The Houma Courier. In 1957, Delahaye began his career at Nicholls State University where he served as instructor of journalism and director of publications and public information. During that decade he was also the founding president of the LSU Journalism Alumni Association and founder of the Nicholls Alumni Federation and the Nicholls Hall of Fame. In the 1960s, he taught journalism for two years at the University of Missouri while in his doctoral program. He received his doctorate in 1970. In 1972 he began a 17-year stint as co-editor of the bibliography section of Journalism Quarterly. In the 1970s, he was the founding president of the Nicholls chapter of the national Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, served five years as a Faculty Senate officer and established what is today the nationally accredited Department of Mass Communication at Nicholls. In the 1980s he was recognized as a distinguished service professor. In the 1990s he was recognized as a professor emeritus. Delahaye also authored two volumes of Nicholls history published in 1999 and 2003. In 2009, he was honored for 52 years of service as a Nicholls professor, administrator and volunteer – and given an oak sapling, which now grows in the university's quadrangle next to a bronze plaque. In September 2016 he was inducted into the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication Hall of Fame. Memorial donations may be made to the NSU Foundation, P.O. Box 2074, Thibodaux, LA 70310 for the Al Delahaye Journalism Fund. Thibodaux Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.