Benjamin Pavy

Who was Benjamin Pavy?

Benjamin Henry Pavy was a state district court judge in St. Landry and Evangeline parishes, Louisiana, who was gerrymandered out of office in 1936 through the intervention of his political rival, the powerful U.S. Senator Huey Pierce Long, Jr. He is widely believed to be one of the reasons why Huey Long was shot, because shortly before Long died, he passed a law gerrymandering his district so that it included more Long supporters, a way to defeat him in the 1936 elections. One of Pavy's sons-in-law, Carl Austin Weiss. Sr., M.D., was the alleged assassin of Long though the Pavy and Weiss families have long disputed that assertion.

Pavy was born in Coulee Croche in St. Landry Parish to Alfred Henry Pavy and the former Laperle Guidry. He was educated in the schools of Opelousas, the seat of St. Landry Parish. He had a brother, Felix Octave Pavy, Sr., an Opelousas physician who was a member of the St. Landry Parish Police Jury and thereafter the Louisiana House of Representatives, having served from 1932–1936, during the time of the Long assassination.

On November 4, 1896, Pavy wed the former Ida Veazie of Opelousas. Their children included three sons, Alfred Veazie Pavy and the twins Albert Lionel Pavy and Alfred Dudley Pavy, and four daughters, Yvonne Louise Pavy Weiss Bourgeois, Marie Aline Pavy, Evelyn Laperle Pavy, and Ida Catherine Pavy Boudreaux.