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==Background==

==Background==

Mamoulides was one of four children of [[Greece|Greek]] immigrants Mitchell D. and Pansy Mamoulides. Born in Crowley in Acadia Parish near [[Lafayette]], he grew up working in the family's cafe business. After the death of his father in 1945, when Mamoulides was twelve years of age, he took odd jobs to support his family. He still found time to play sports at Crowley High School. He graduated from the institution now known as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and then entered the [[United States Air Force]] in which he was a navigator named to a team that protected the nation's advanced and often secret technology housed at a radar base in California under the Air Defense Command. Upon discharge from active duty, Mamoulides enrolled in law school at [[Tulane University]] in New Orleans. For a time he also worked as an air traffic controller and as a construction worker. He established a law practice in Jefferson Parish and in 1966 became an assistant district attorney prior to his election in 1972 as the DA. He won the post in a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] [[primary]] runoff with [[Jim Donelon]], the retiring long-term state insurance commissioner and a former state legislator who in 1980 defected to the [[Republican Party]]. Mamoulides served four terms and resigned in 1992, with a few months remaining in his last term.<ref name=obit>John Mamoulides Obituary (1933 - 2023) - Metairie, LA - The Times-Picayune (nola.com), accessed August 7, 2023.</ref>

Mamoulides was one of four children of [[Greece|Greek]] immigrants Mitchell D. and Pansy Mamoulides. Born in Crowley in Acadia Parish near [[Lafayette]], he grew up working in the family's cafe business. After the death of his father in 1945, when Mamoulides was twelve years of age, he took odd jobs to support his family. He still found time to play sports at Crowley High School. He graduated from the institution now known as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and then entered the [[United States Air Force]] in which he was a navigator named to a team that protected the nation's advanced and often secret technology housed at a radar base in California under the Air Defense Command. Upon discharge from active duty, Mamoulides enrolled in law school at [[Tulane University]] in New Orleans. For a time he also worked as an air traffic controller and as a construction worker.  

Together with DAs and sheriffs from around the state, he influenced legislation and created one of the first Child Advocacy Centers in the nation. He pushed with other law enforcement officials  on behalf of single parents and their families to retrieve unpaid child support. He instituted a pre-trial diversion program that significantly reduced the rate of recidivism for first offenders. He employed social workers to assist victims and their families. He established the first consumer protection division in a DA's office which gave individuals a way to report fraud and obtain resolution. He prosecuted high-profile celebrities, public officials, and even police, when the evidence showed they had committed crimes. He never refused to prosecute because he disagreed with the law in question. Beyond the state level, he argued and won five cases before the [[United States Supreme Court]] which impacted criminal justice across the nation. Mamoulides was elected president of the Louisiana District Attorney's Association and testified in [[Baton Rouge]] and [[Washington, D.C.]] regarding law enforcement. He was appointed to the U.S. Office of the Independent Counsel after he retired from the DA's Office. The Louisiana Supreme Court appointed him to multiple justice committees.

 

Together with DAs and sheriffs from around the state, Mamoulides influenced legislation and created one of the first Child Advocacy Centers in the nation. He pushed with other law enforcement officials  on behalf of single parents and their families to retrieve unpaid child support. He instituted a pre-trial diversion program that significantly reduced the rate of recidivism for first offenders. He employed social workers to assist victims and their families. He established the first consumer protection division in a DA's office which gave individuals a way to report fraud and obtain resolution. He prosecuted high-profile celebrities, public officials, and even police, when the evidence showed they had committed crimes. He never refused to prosecute because he disagreed with the law in question. Beyond the state level, he argued and won five cases before the [[United States Supreme Court]] which impacted criminal justice across the nation. Mamoulides was elected president of the Louisiana District Attorney's Association and testified in [[Baton Rouge]] and [[Washington, D.C.]] regarding law enforcement. He was appointed to the U.S. Office of the Independent Counsel after he retired from the DA's Office. The Louisiana Supreme Court appointed him to multiple justice committees.<ref name=obit/>

==Personal life==

==Personal life==