Chet Pourciau

Interior designer and television personality Chet Pourciau died at his New Orleans home of lymphoma on March 6th. The proprietor of Chet Pourciau Design, his work was regularly published regionally and nationally. His Magazine Street showroom is a mecca for the stylish and elegant.

Locally he was perhaps better known as the host of Chet Chat on WLAE-TV and for his Thursday fashion and Friday design segments on Fox News 8. In addition to his local television work he made frequent media appearances throughout the state and nation and was featured on the Food Network’s Worst Chefs in America series.

Known for his trademark bow ties and dapper attire, he was a ubiquitous presence serving as master of ceremonies for countless charitable and fashion events. He was especially supportive of the Children’s Hospital Prom of Champions, the NOAIDS Task Force’s AIDS Walk, Bridge House-Grace House and Fashion Week New Orleans. He was himself a recipient if the Prix de Elegance in recognition of being among the best dressed men in New Orleans.

He was an avid competitive bodybuilder and held several titles. He loved sports and attending Saints and Pelicans games. His vocation and avocation merged when he was named resident designer for the Pelicans basketball franchise in 2012.

Born in New Iberia on January 29, 1970, last October he launched a new line of home furnishings called Iberia Parish which was inspired by his birthplace. His maternal grandmother was the cook for the Patout family who maintained one of the last fully functioning sugar cane plantations in the state where she lived in “the quarters.” He was one of the last people to have experienced a way of life once common in Louisiana that is now barely a memory.

He attended Catholic High School in New Iberia and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. While at ULL, he worked at Mason Blanche and his ebullient personality caused the store to recruit him to play the role of Mister Bingle at Christmas.

As a child he remembered constantly rearranging his bedroom furniture. He ultimately obtained an interior design degree from Delgado Community College but was quick to acknowledge his debt to the late interior decorator Leon Irwin III for whom he worked as an assistant and credited with developing his sense of color and pattern. Although his personal taste leaned to the mid-century modern, his design theory was to discern what made his client comfortable and then present it in a striking or stylish manner.

He is survived by his spouse Jack Sullivan; his mother, Earlie Mae Pourcau, of New Iberia; sister Joy Greene, also of New Iberia; brothers Roy Greene of Baldwin, Keith Greene of Iowa, Nathaniel Greene of Kenner and William Greene of Indian Village, Michigan; as well as his godchildren Anderson Cooper of Sugarland, Texas, Nathaniel “B.J.” Green Jr. of Loreauville, Mason Greene of New Orleans and Anissa Thomas of New Iberia; in addition to numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces and three sisters-in-law and countless friends.

He was preceded in death by his grandfather, Norman E. Pourciau Sr.; his father, Norman E. Pourciau Jr.; his paternal grandmother, Ethel Mae Druilhet; great-aunt Thelma Druilhet Pecantte; maternal grandparents, Earl and Lucille Bernard; and brothers Roland Greene Jr. and Wyndell Greene.

Friends are invited to attend the visitation at Jacob Schoen and Son, 3827 Canal Street, New Orleans, on Friday, March 13, 2015, between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at Mater Dolorosa Church, 1228 S. Carrollton Avenue, New Orleans, on Saturday, March 14, 2015, at noon. Friends may visit at the church after 11 a.m. Internment in Metairie Cemetery will be private. A scholarship fund has been established, and in lieu of flowers contributions are encouraged to Delgado Community College, Office of Institutional Advancement, 615 City Park Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70119. Please indicate “Chet Pourciau Design Fund” in the memo line.