SAMUEL THEODORE “TEDDY” ALCUS, III, a businessman and entrepreneur who succeeded in the fields of finance insurance before becoming a member of the petrochemical industry, passed away on Monday, March 16, at Touro Infirmary, the third victim of the COVID-19 pandemic and the first to die at Lambeth House.  He was 84.

A native New Orleanian, he graduated from Isidore Newman High School in 1953 , where he was involved in sports, drama and chorus. He attended Colgate University in New York for his freshman year of college and then returned to  New Orleans to finish his undergraduate studies at Tulane University, where he graduated in 1957 with a bachelor’s degree in History.

Following two years in the U.S. Army, he began his financial career as a securities trader and moved to New York to launch a career as a securities trader with Goldman, Sachs & Company. When he later returned to New Orleans for good, he joined his father in the private investment firm of S. Alcus & Co.

While working in New York, he met Alice Faye Harris of Los Angeles. The young couple were soon married and moved back to New Orleans. The Alcuses settled in Old Metairie where they started a family.

Following the disolution of his first marriage, Alcus  married Gwendolyn Fletcher of Tallahassee, FL. The couple lived in Metairie. Alcus  was married for a final time in 2008 to Joy Ann Cuoco Rodick until her untimely passing in 2015. In their years together, they enjoyed world travel, socializing, Mardi Gras and their ever-broadening coterie of friends. They weathered Katrina together in Maryland and returned to make their life and home near Bayou St. John. 

Alcus was an original 1967 Saints season ticket holder from their inaugural campaign at Tulane Stadium until the time of his passing. He was a second-generation Tulane Sports Booster and rarely missed a Tulane home game. An enthusiastic outdoorsman, he greatly enjoyed all varieties of water sports and recreation, especially as an avid angler.  For over 20 years, he held the Virginia state sports fishing record for a 511-pound blue marlin he caught unassisted with his rod and reel in 1971. 

His first passion was that of a sailor, even as in his later years, each journey became more difficult. He was always excited to share the magic that can be found on a day with a stiff breeze, warm sun and light chop on Lake Pontchartrain.

Alcus participated in several formal and informal associations, clubs and organizations. He helped guide Isidore Newman School as a board member and parent from the 1960s to the 1990s and enthusiastically attended virtually every sporting event during the times his sons were students there. He continued to attend Newman sporting events through this past football season. He was an original member of Pete Fountain’s “Half-Fast Marching Club” in the 1960’s and since 1975 was an active member of The Moosehead Lake Yacht Club (Maine), where he regularly spent his summers. In 1980, Alcus joined his most beloved of Mardi Gras krewes and rode in its Friday night parade for 40 years. Incredibly, his last ride was just this year. Over the years, he also reigned as the king of two other Carnival krewes.

In 2017, he moved to Lambeth House, where he enjoyed spending time with many close friends and acquaintances. In recent years, Alcus rekindled his boyhood love for singing as a member of the Lambeth House Choir and enjoyed the camaraderie of the uptown Roundtable Club. For decades, he enjoyed the weekly lunch company of the very informal Friday lunch group at Pascal Manale’s Restuarant and regularly attended the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra concerts and productions at Summer Lyric Theatre at Tulane University.  

Due to emergency health care regulations in place, the family held a private graveside burial at his family’s resting place at Lake Lawn Metairie took place on Wednesday, March 18, 2020,  officiated by Rabbi Emeritus Ed Paul Cohn. A memorial service to celebrate his life will be held in the fall. Remembrances in his name may be made to the Isidore Newman School, 1903 Jefferson Avenue, New Orleans, LA. 70115.