Kevin Hearsey Couhig

Kevin Hearsey Couhig died at his vacation home in Cashiers, NC, July 1, 2025. He was 73.

Couhig is best remembered as a great storyteller, an okay duck hunter, a brilliant businessman and as a peerless father, husband, brother and friend. Couhig lived a life of remarkable accomplishment and service, both in his private life and in his professional life. As a capstone to his public life, Couhig was elected as the first president of West Feliciana Parish in 2013 following the introduction of the parish's new Parish Council government reorganization, which replaced the former police jury system. He was re-elected in 2015. During his two terms Couhig compiled a notable record of accomplishment. Among the changes he spearheaded or contributed to was a change approved by the Louisiana Tax Commission to direct all property taxes paid by the Riverbend Nuclear Plant to the parish, a revision that brings millions of dollars in additional funds annually to the parish. He also oversaw the purchase and rehabilitation of the old Mississippi ferry landing, which now serves the multiple cruise ships that regularly dock in St. Francisville. The new multibillion-dollar artificial intelligence and Bitcoin mining facility now under construction by HUT8 in West Feliciana is being built largely on property Couhig obtained or optioned for the parish as part of a new business park he created. He resigned his position in 2018 to spend more time with his family.

Couhig was a 1969 graduate of St. Francisville High School where he was a notable student. His senior year he was also, according to his own testimony, the worst quarterback in school history.

While attending Georgetown University in Washington, DC, he married Candace Jones, his high school sweetheart. The two, who divorced in 1995, have three boys and four grandchildren. After graduating from Georgetown Couhig worked some years managing his father's Baton Rouge-based pest control company, Couhig Pestaway. He later managed Asphodel Plantation, the family's East Feliciana bed-and-breakfast. In 1977 he was hired by the State of Louisiana as an economic development specialist, and was charged with bringing in new industry to the state. In 1978 he was promoted to Financial Incentives Director of Louisiana’s Office of Commerce & Industry. He is credited with implementing a local readiness program (Ready Cities), the nation’s first state-level Enterprise Zone Program. In 1981 he was appointed by Republican Governor David Treen as Assistant Secretary of Commerce to lead the State of Louisiana’s economic development programs. He was the youngest person to ever hold the office. As Assistant Secretary Couhig was credited with numerous innovative programs to help develop small business and entrepreneurship in Louisiana. He was the lead author of the Certified Capital Companies Program, enabling Louisiana to rapidly grow the amount of venture capital available to small business in the state. Couhig was re-appointed Assistant Secretary by newly elected Democratic Governor Edwin Edwards and served in that position until he resigned in 1985. After leaving state service, with partner Doug Wilkinson Couhig founded Bankers Mortgage Service Corporation. The company was created to aid commercial banks as they began mortgage lending, a market opened to banks by then-recent changes in state law. The company was so successful that at the end of its first year Couhig was named Entrepreneur of the Year by Baton Rouge Business Report. Following the sale of Bankers Mortgage to Banc One in 1987, Couhig was asked by the Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce to establish the state's first seed capital firm. Other investors included the Baton Rouge Area Foundation as well as numerous insurance companies and retirement funds. Source Capital, LLC, made equity investments and mezzanine and SBA loans to more than 130 small businesses in the Gulf South. Source Capital also founded First BIDCO, which became the largest Small Business Administration lender in Louisiana prior to its sale to Fidelity Bank in Baton Rouge. Other notable Source investments included Raisin' Canes (Source provided funding for the company's first four locations), U.S. Agencies and Presonus,Inc., a Baton Rouge audio firm that was regularly named as one of Inc. magazine's fastest growing U.S. corporations. Couhig served Presonus as Chairman of the Board when the then-multinational firm sold in 2021 to the Fender Corporation. Couhig also founded Resource Environmental Solutions, growing it into the largest wetlands restoration firm in the nation. He called the company's planting of tens of millions of trees to restore Louisiana's wetlands his proudest professional achievement. In addition to his professional activities, Couhig was a dedicated father to his three boys, and particularly to their early soccer careers and later business careers. In 1990 he coached the Catholic High School soccer team and the Baton Rouge United Soccer Club to state championships. As a result he was named the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's Coach of the Year for the ten-state Region Six. In the early 1980s Couhig started the United Cup Soccer tournament in Baton Rouge; it remains one of the largest sports-related annual tourism events in Baton Rouge. In addition, he served as Chairman of the Baton Rouge United Soccer Club. Couhig was a lifelong supporter of Liverpool Football Club.

Couhig was born in New Orleans in 1951, the fifth child of Marcelle Reese (LeBlanc) Couhig. Marcelle, a pioneer in the Louisiana tourism industry, was widowed in World War II and provided Kevin with his eldest brother and sister, Sam A. LeBlanc III (Noelle) of St. Francisville and Marcelle LeBlanc Hickey of St. Francisville. Her latter husband, Robert E. Couhig -- a well-known figure in Baton Rouge business circles -- added four more: Rob, Jr. (Melissa) of St. Francisville; Owen Couhig Kemp of St. Francisville, Kevin, and Mark St.John Couhig (Linda) of Seguin, TX. His parents raised the combined family as one.

Couhig was preceded in death by his mother and father.

He is survived by his beloved wife, Claire, of St. Francisville, and by her sons, Matthew Joseph Vecchio (Demilee) of Travelers Rest, SC, and Jacob William Vecchio (Janilie), of Las Vegas, NV.

Couhig is also survived by his three sons: Peter Marcus Couhig (Finney) of Baton Rouge, Patrick Hearsey Couhig of St. Francisville, and Brendan Fitzgibbons Couhig (Jenn) of Arlington, WA, and by his one granddaughter, Anna Reese Couhig, and his three grandsons, James Emmet "Buster" Couhig, Marcus Alexander "Mac" Couhig and Lincoln Francis Couhig.

He is also survived by his three brothers, two sisters and two former wives. All are in mourning.

A funeral Mass will be held for former West Feliciana Parish president Kevin Couhig Monday, July 14 at 11 a.m. at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church in St. Francisville. Visitation begins at Catholic Hall at 9 a.m. Burial in the Catholic Cemetery will follow the service. Rob and Missy Couhig will host a reception at their home following the graveside service (4363 Hwy. 966).