Jackie Clarkson
American politician

Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson (January 17, 1936 – June 26, 2024) was an American politician who served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1994 to 2002 and on the New Orleans City Council from 1990 to 1994, 2002 to 2006, and 2007 to 2013. She had been Honorary consul of Lithuania in New Orleans from December 2014 to her death. She was the mother of actress Patricia Clarkson.
Background
Clarkson was born as Jacquelyn Brechtel in New Orleans on January 17, 1936. Her maternal grandmother, Sophie Bass, was a Jewish immigrant from Lithuania, while her maternal grandfather was a Spanish immigrant. She was the daughter of Sophie (née Berengher) and Johnny Brechtel, a football coach of German and Irish descent. She was married to Arthur Clarkson and they have five daughters, including Academy Award-nominated actress Patricia Clarkson. Before entering politics she was in real estate and president of the Louisiana Realtor Association.
Clarkson represented District C on the New Orleans City Council from 1990 to 1994 and from 2002 to 2006, as well as District 102 at the Louisiana House of Representatives. The boundaries of District 102 are roughly the same as the Algiers neighborhood (also known as the Fifteenth Ward) in New Orleans.
The public source identifies “Jackie Clarkson” as american politician. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Jackie, Clarkson and American.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jackie Clarkson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.