Genealogy Data Page 909 (Notes Pages)

Note: Sciambra - Jacob H. Sciambra, a lawyer and former Jefferson Parish judge and council member, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at Chateau Living Center. He was 84. He was the east bank councilman-at-large for Jefferson Parish from 1964 to 1972 and later was interim judge of 1st Parish Court in Jefferson. Mr. Sciambra was born in 1910 in the family's home above a bar and grocery store his father ran at Marigny and Dauphine streets in New Orleans. He lived in the New Orleans area all his life. He graduated from Warren Easton High School, Loyola University and Loyola Law School. He was in the Coast Guard during World War II. In a 1982 interview, Mr. Sciambra said his parents, Giacomina and Henry Sciambra, decided when he was 9 that he would play the piano. But when he was 14, an uncle asked him if he'd be interested in the clarinet. "And I was hooked, " he said. "As much as I hated practicing the piano and violin, that's how much I loved practicing the clarinet - 12 to 14 hours a day." He played in the Contessa Entellina and Roma bands, the major marching bands of the large Italian immigrant community that lived in and near the French Quarter early in the century. "I knew I could make a living playing music, " he said, but he chose instead to enter Loyola Law School after leaving the service at the end of World War II. After law school, he entered practice with Gretna lawyer Jacob Amato and specialized in real estate law. As a critic of uncontrolled development in Jefferson's burgeoning suburbs, Mr. Sciambra attracted the attention of political reformers and won his council seat on the Donelon-Cronvich-Mollere ticket, named after its candidates for parish president, sheriff and council chairman, respectively. After two terms, he was defeated for re- election in 1972 and lost a run for parish president in 1976. After that, he said, "I dropped out of politics. I had done my service." Mr. Sciambra was a past president of the Jefferson Bar Association, a former board member and officer of East Jefferson General Hospital, and a Paul Harris Fellow and member of the Rotary Club of Metairie. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus Council No. 3923, American Legion Post 267, the New Orleans Jazz Club, Musicians Union Local 174-496, and the Carnival krewes of Bacchus, Carrollton and Mid-City. Survivors include a son, Jacob H. Sciambra II; a daughter, Carol Ann Edwards; a brother, John Sciambra; three sisters, Carolyn, Nettsie and Victoria; and two grandchildren. A Mass will be said Friday at 2 p.m. at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. Visitation will begin at noon. Burial will be private. 07-06-1995 Times Picayune