Carl Bauer, former University of Louisiana lobbyist, dies – was retired coordinator of UL relations

Bill Decker, Daily Advertiser, June 12, 2013

Carl Bauer

Carl Bauer, who lobbied on behalf of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette for years and helped establish Acadiana as an officially recognized cultural region, died Tuesday morning. He was 79.

Former UL President Ray Authement said he learned of Bauer’s death on Tuesday.

“Carl Bauer was one of the most effective leaders, as far as grants and contracts, that we ever had,” Authement said.

He said Bauer had struggled with failing eyesight as well as cancer in recent years. Bauer had learned to use a computer’s accommodations for the visually impaired.

“He was courageous,” Authement said.

“He cheered and mentored me in my short political career then constantly encouraged me to join him in a writing class and finally succeeded in getting me started chronicling my story,” said former state Rep. Odon Bacque Jr. in a written tribute. “My greatest regret is that he won’t be here to see the finished product.”

Bauer served two terms in the Louisiana Legislature, according to documents from the House and Senate websites. He was a state representative from 1966-72 and then moved to the Senate for a term that ended in 1976.

As a representative, he was one of the sponsors of the 1971 law that created Acadiana as an official cultural and regional designation recognized by the state government.

Among his positions at UL, he served as coordinator of governmental relations. He retired from UL in 2010, according to the university’s media relations office.

As a legislator, Bauer had advocated turning U.S. Route 90 into a four-lane roadway.

He served as chairman of the governor’s Interstate 49 Task Force in the 1990s when he was a member of the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, and it was during that same period that U.S. 90 from Interstate 10 in Lafayette to New Orleans was officially designated as the future route of I-49 South.

Under Bauer’s leadership, the task force argued that the upgrade of U.S. 90 to interstate standards is needed to facilitate hurricane evacuation, prevent the highway crashes resulting from the traffic signals and crossovers along U.S. 90 south of Lafayette and accommodate south Louisiana’s energy industry.

Bauer is survived by his wife of 33 years, Mary Jane Peacher Bauer, six children and eight grandchildren.

There will be a gathering of friends at 10 a.m. Friday at Asbury United Methodist Church, 101 Live Oak Blvd. A memorial service will follow at 11 a.m. at the church, followed by a reception at the church’s fellowship hall.