Anthony Guarisco Jr.

Democratic former member of the Louisiana State Senate from Morgan City in St. Mary Parish in south Louisiana. He represented Senate District 21 from 1976 to 1988, which included the parishes of St. Mary, Assumption, Terrebonne, and St. Martin, two precincts only. Guarisco is an American/Italian dual citizen as well as a citizen of the European Union, whose father was Anthony J. Guarisco, Sr. (1910–2002); his mother, the former Nathalie Verret (1913-1991).[2][3] The Guariscos are a large extended Sicilian American family in Morgan City. One of their progenitors, Victor Guarisco (1879-1972) established a large shrimp company in Morgan City and later the Gulf Marine Drilling Company to build offshore oil supply boats.[4] In 1960, Guarisco received his Bachelor of Science in business administration from Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana. In 1966, after three years of study he received his law degree from Loyola University in New Orleans, where he was a member of Delta Theta Phi. While in law school, he was President of the Student Bar Association, Chief Justice of the Judicial Court of Honor and received Honorable Mention on the Moot Court team. He was admitted to the bar in 1966.[5] He also studied political science in 1977 and 1978 at the University of New Orleans. Years later from 2008 to 2012, he studied at Louisiana State University and obtained a Master of Arts in liberal arts, while still practicing law and engaged in real estate. Well into his seventies, he served for five months as a student body senator in 2012 at LSU.[6] On February 24, 1968, in the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Morgan City, Guarisco married the former Sherry Perdue, the daughter of Theodore Paul Perdue, Jr., and the former Peggy Palmer, both of Morgan City. She too graduated from Nicholls State University and became a classroom teacher.[2] At the time of his marriage, Guarisco was affiliated with the Morgan City law firm Levy, Burleigh, Russo and Bourg.[2] In a 1974 murder case, Guarisco successfully obtained the first verdict of "Not guilty by reason of insanity" in Louisiana criminal law history.[7]