Walter Clyde Lee, Sr. (born 1934), the former superintendents for DeSoto and Caddo parishes, said that Picard was "the best politician I'd ever seen, and he'd chuckle and say, 'I'm not a politician. I'm a statesman.'" Lee said that he considered Picard to have been the most effective of all Louisiana superintendents. Picard was particularly known for the implementation of an [[accountability]] program that was recognized nationwide.
Then Louisiana State Representative [[Jane H. Smith]], a Republican from [[Bossier City]], and herself a former superintendent in Bossier Parish, described Picard as "a warrior and a fighter. He was right there until the very end, doing what he could. He had a passion for the job."
Picard's chief assistant, Carole Wallin, said that he was "taken from us before he accomplished all of his dreams. . . . He was always dreaming of things to do to improve education." Wallin recalled that Picard was the principal when Maurice High School was [[Segregation|desegregated]]. Years later, his first act as superintendent was to begin a tour of the state's school districts. The levels of [[poverty]] he encountered appalled him, she said. Picard hence decided that perhaps the best way to lift children was to begin teaching them at an early age. That resulted in the LA4 pre-school program.
Picard and his wife, the former Gaylen David (born 1942), <ref name=findagrave/>had two sons and four grandchildren. Tyron and Layne Picard said in a statement distributed at the funeral that their father's life "can be summed up in one sentence: He taught us to believe. As a father, he taught us to believe success was possible. Not a single day did he bemoan his undeserved fate. Quite the contrary, he accepted his condition with peace and deepened his relationship with [[God]]."<ref name=obit/>
Former state Representative Jimmy Dale Long, Sr. (1931-2016), of [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]], a member of the [[Earl Long|Long]] political dynasty who was the chairman of the University of Louisiana System board of supervisors, headed the House Education Committee when Picard was chairman of the corresponding Senate committee. He said that the two developed a working and friendly relationship. "Cecil and I authored a raft of education reform," Long said in his eulogy to Picard. Long said that Picard was comfortable with himself, and it showed. . . . He told me, 'People believe honesty, and they're not easily misled,' which is how he led his life. . . . Cecil could get things done. His political legacy is [that] he made sure Louisiana's children have the opportunity for a better education."
The family requested that Picard be remembered through memorial contributions to the Cecil Picard Endowment Fund to benefit the eponymous Cecil J. Picard Center for Child Development and Lifelong Learning at his ''alma mater,'' the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. There is also the Cecil J. Picard Educator Awards.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thenewsstar.com/story/news/education/2018/07/27/wossman-principal-state-principal-year/854136002/|title=Wossman's (Eric) Davis Is State Principal of the Year|publisher=''The Monroe News-Star''|date=July 27, 2018|accessdate=February 7, 2020}}</ref>
In 2006, a year before his death, Picard was inducted into the [[Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame]] in Winnfield.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cityofwinnfield.com/museum.html|title=Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame|publisher=cityofwinnfield.com|accessdate=August 22, 2009}}</ref>