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'''Ernest Guy Coates, Jr.''', known as '''Guy Coates''' (June 28, 1940 &ndash; January 12, 2021), was a [[journalist]] a 40-year correspondent for the [[Associated Press]] in his native [[Louisiana]].<ref>Ernest Coates (Guy) - Baton Rouge, LA Background Report at MyLife.com, accessed May 11, 2021.</ref>

'''Ernest Guy Coates, Jr.''', known as '''Guy Coates''' (June 28, 1940 &ndash; January 12, 2021), was a [[journalist]] a 40-year correspondent for the [[Associated Press]] in his native [[Louisiana]].<ref>Ernest Coates (Guy) - Baton Rouge, LA Background Report at MyLife.com, accessed May 11, 2021.</ref>

Born in [[Monroe, Louisiana|Monroe]] to Guy, Sr. (1909-1998}, and Winnie L. Coates, he had a sister, Dorothy Coates Talley (1934-2012). Coates graduated from what is now the [[University of Louisiana at Monroe]]. He worked first for ''The Corpus Christi ([[Texas]]) Caller Times,''  then ''The Shreveport Times,'' and the [[CBS]] television affiliates KNOE in Monroe and KSLA in [[Shreveport]]. He joined the AP in [[New Orleans]] in 1968; five years later he was named the AP bureau chief at the AP's bureau at the state Capitol in [[Baton Rouge]]. He covered the activities of six Louisiana [[governor]], [[Jimmie Davis]], [[John J. McKeithen]], [[Edwin Edwards]], [[David C. Treen]], [[Buddy Roemer]], and [[Mike Foster]]. He reported on dozens of legislative sessions and countless political campaigns. He became an expert on Louisiana politics and provided gavel-to-gavel coverage of the 1973 convention that led to a new state constitution in 1974. He held public officials accountable with his tough questioning. Former [[United States Senator]] [[Mary Landrieu]], a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] called Coates "one of Louisiana's finest reporters." In addition to political matters, he reported on a sniper in [[New Orleans]], Hurricane Camille in coastal [[Mississippi]] in 1969, and floods and prison riots. He was a mentor to young reporters, Each week, he published a column on Louisiana politics and government that often featured the homespun observations of a fictional friendhe called "Jethro Rotheschild."<ref name=obit>Guy Coates Obituary (1940 - 2021) - Baton Rouge, LA - The Advocate, accessed May 11, 2021.</ref>

Coates was born in [[Monroe, Louisiana|Monroe]] to Guy, Sr. (1909-1998}, and Winnie L. Coates, who operated a doughnut shop. He had an older sister, Dorothy Coates Talley (1934-2012). Coates graduated from what is now the [[University of Louisiana at Monroe]]. He worked first for ''The Corpus Christi ([[Texas]]) Caller Times,''  then ''The Shreveport Times,'' and the [[CBS]] television affiliates KNOE in Monroe and KSLA in [[Shreveport]]. He joined the AP in [[New Orleans]] in 1968; five years later he was named the AP bureau chief at the AP's bureau at the state Capitol in [[Baton Rouge]]. He covered the activities of six Louisiana [[governor]], [[Jimmie Davis]], [[John J. McKeithen]], [[Edwin Edwards]], [[David C. Treen]], [[Buddy Roemer]], and [[Mike Foster]]. He reported on dozens of legislative sessions and countless political campaigns. He became an expert on Louisiana politics and provided gavel-to-gavel coverage of the 1973 convention that led to a new state constitution in 1974. He held public officials accountable with his tough questioning. Former [[United States Senator]] [[Mary Landrieu]], a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] called Coates "one of Louisiana's finest reporters." In addition to political matters, he reported on a sniper in [[New Orleans]], Hurricane Camille in coastal [[Mississippi]] in 1969, and floods and prison riots. He was a mentor to young reporters, Each week, he published a column on Louisiana politics and government that often featured the homespun observations of a fictional friendhe called "Jethro Rotheschild."<ref name=obit>Guy Coates Obituary (1940 - 2021) - Baton Rouge, LA - The Advocate, accessed May 11, 2021.</ref>

Coates was married for thirty-nine years until his death to Jonica Coates. He had four children from a previous marriage, Guy Coates, III, Jennifer Anne Coates, and Rebecca Riviello and her husband, Albert Joseph Riviello, all of [[Orlando]], [[Florida]], and Wilma L. Bell and her husband, Timothy of Sugar Hill, [[Georgia]]. He had four grandchildren:  Leah, Blaine and Grace Bell and Ryan Riviello.  There was no funeral service because his death came near the peak of the [[coronavirus]] pandemic.<ref name=obit/>

Coates was married for thirty-nine years until his death to Jonica Coates. He had four children from a previous marriage, Guy Coates, III, Jennifer Anne Coates, and Rebecca Riviello and her husband, Albert Joseph Riviello, all of [[Orlando]], [[Florida]], and Wilma L. Bell and her husband, Timothy of Sugar Hill, [[Georgia]]. He had four grandchildren:  Leah, Blaine and Grace Bell and Ryan Riviello.  There was no funeral service because his death came near the peak of the [[coronavirus]] pandemic.<ref name=obit/>