FERRIDAY — Concordia Parish native and longtime Louisiana politician Al Ater died Sunday evening in Houston from complications with brain cancer.

Ater, 63, was in Houston for treatment for a brain tumor and died at the Houston Hospice, news outlets reported Sunday.

Ater served as a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1984 and served until 1992, opting to not seek reelection and returned to Ferriday to farm and operate an insurance company.

Ater served as interim secretary of state from 2005 through November 2006, and garnered praise for helping voters participate in the New Orleans mayoral primary in early 2006, when the city was still reeling from Hurricane Katrina.

In 2010, Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon appointed Ater to serve as chief deputy Commissioner of Insurance.

Ater, a Ferriday native, was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in 2009.

Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler offered his condolences in a statement Sunday evening.

“Al was known as a guy who was always willing to negotiate and get the work of the people done in a non-partisan manner,” Schedler said. “At the Secretary of State’s Office, he is remembered for his exemplary leadership after Hurricane Katrina in pulling off the New Orleans mayoral election under extraordinary conditions, making Louisiana the model for emergency preparedness for voting.”

Ater is survived by his wife, Susie, and three children, Whitney, Thomas and Elliott.

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