Ken Hollis  Jesse Kendrick Hollis, Jr., known as Ken Hollis (March 13, 1942 – September 10, 2010), was a Republican Party member of the Louisiana State Senate for District 9 from Metairie in Jefferson Parish in the New Orleans suburbs. He served from 1982, when he won a special election to fill an unexpired term, until he was term-limited, effective January 14, 2008. In 2003, Hollis launched an exploratory campaign for governor but never filed his papers even though he claimed that his early polling was encouraging. He instead endorsed intraparty rival Hunt Downer of Houma, the seat of Terrebonne Parish in south Louisiana. Downer finished in sixth place in the jungle primary, and the office ultimately went to the Democrat Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Lafayette. Because he did not run for governor, Hollis was able to secure his sixth full term in the state Senate District 9. As his Senate successor, Hollis endorsed Republican State Representative Steve Scalise, a conservative who won the seat in the primary held on October 20, 2007, but soon resigned to become a U.S. representative. Hollis was born and reared in Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish and the largest city in central Louisiana. He graduated in 1960 from Bolton High School. One of his classmates was former Mayor Edward G. "Ned" Randolph, Jr., who served in the state Senate from 1976 to 1984. Their Senate tenures hence coincided only during the short session to which Hollis was elected in 1982. Hollis thereafter received a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, the seat of Lincoln Parish in north Louisiana. From 1967 to 1974, he was a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve. A Presbyterian, Hollis was a board member of United Christian Charities. Hollis was first married to the former Judith Beasley (1942–2007), who was living in Monroe at the time of her death. She was the mother of his three sons, Jesse K. "Trey" Hollis, III, Michael Hollis, and Paul Hollis. After his second marriage with Barbara Jones Hollis ended in divorce, Hollis in 1999 wed the former Diane Woods, who had from a previous marriage three daughters, Heather, Jennifer, and Casie. After graduation from Louisiana Tech, Hollis entered the insurance business as MassMutual's regional group manager, a position that he retained until 1981. Hollis then served as MassMutual's general agent for the State of Louisiana until he retired from that position in January 1998.