HLS 181ES-60 ORIGINAL
2018 First Extraordinary Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 1
BY REPRESENTATIVE MORENO
CONDOLENCES: Expresses condolences upon the death of Judge Peter Beer
1 A RESOLUTION
2To express the condolences of the House of Representatives upon the death of Judge Peter
3 Beer.
4 WHEREAS, Peter Hill Beer was born on April 12, 1928, in New Orleans, to Mose
5and Henriette Lowenburg Beer; and
6 WHEREAS, after graduating from Isidore Newman School in 1945, Peter began a
7life of noble public service, first by volunteering for the Army during what would be the
8closing months of World War II; he became an infantry corporal and was honorably
9discharged in 1946; and
10 WHEREAS, after he came home to New Orleans, he enrolled at Tulane University;
11in 1949, he graduated and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Force Reserve;
12and
13 WHEREAS, Peter then enrolled in law school at Tulane, where he served as
14president of the Student Bar Association; and
15 WHEREAS, he was recalled to active duty in the Korean conflict; after graduating
16from law school, he continued his military service as a first lieutenant and, later, a captain
17in the Air Force's Judge Advocate General's Corps; and
18 WHEREAS, in 1954, Mr. Beer began his civilian legal career with the law firm of
19Montgomery, Barnett, Brown and Sessions, where he worked for two decades and became
20managing partner; and
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HR NO. 1
1 WHEREAS, in 1962, Peter Beer was called to action during the Cuban missile crisis;
2a recipient of the Bronze Star, he retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel; and
3 WHEREAS, Mr. Beer served a term on the New Orleans City Council from 1970 to
41974, and was elected to the state's Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal in 1974; and
5 WHEREAS, Judge Beer stressed the importance of equal protection of individual
6rights; in 1975, he ruled that a man's illegitimate daughter had the right to inherit her father's
7property, arguing that the Louisiana Civil Code article that provided otherwise was
8unconstitutional; the Legislature repealed that article in 1979; and
9 WHEREAS, that same year, President Carter nominated him to be a federal judge,
10and he gave thirty years of honorable service as a jurist on the U.S. District Court in New
11Orleans; and
12 WHEREAS, while on the bench, Judge Beer earned a master of laws degree at the
13University of Virginia; in 2007, he received the Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., Award for
14his service to the school's trial advocacy program; and
15 WHEREAS, his retirement closed out a year in which he was the plaintiff in Beer v.
16United States; he was one of six judges who sued to win cost-of-living pay raises; the
17decision affected more than one thousand three hundred thirty federal judges; and
18 WHEREAS, Judge Beer is survived by his wife, Marjorie Beer, his children, Kenneth
19Beer, Kimberly Beer Bailes, and Dana Beer; his stepchildren; seven grandchildren; six step-
20grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren; and
21 WHEREAS, although the death of Judge Peter Beer has left a tremendous void in his
22community and in the judicial system that he served so long and so well, his legacy shall
23forever live in the hearts and minds of all the citizens whose lives he touched.
24 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
25Legislature of Louisiana does hereby express its sincere and heartfelt condolences upon the
26death of Judge Peter Beer; does hereby recognize and record for posterity the contributions
27and accomplishments of Judge Beer, an exemplary public servant, to the city of New Orleans
28and to our state and nation; and does hereby pay tribute to Peter Beer for the generous and
29effective way in which he dedicated his intelligence and his energy to justice.
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HR NO. 1
1 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a suitable copy of this Resolution be transmitted
2to the family of Judge Peter Beer.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HR 1 Original 2018 First Extraordinary Session Moreno
Expresses condolences upon the death of Judge Peter Beer of New Orleans.
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