Ricardo Alfonso Pardo, Sr.

Ricardo Alfonso Pardo, Sr. died at his home in Gretna, LA on October 9, 2021 at the age of 93. He was born on October 30, 1927 in Havana, Cuba. He was an employee of Chiquita Brands (United Fruit Company) for forty-seven and a half years after starting his career in Havana and moved to New Orleans in 1961 after the revolution in Cuba. He loved the United States and became a citizen but his first love was Cuba. The most devasting loss for Ricardo was the exile from his beloved Cuba and his inability to ever return to the island of his birth due to his impassioned advocacy for democracy and his subsequent persecution and imprisonment for his political views under the Castro regime. This event guided his entire life once in the United States. He was a pioneer in Spanish speaking broadcasting and media in New Orleans. For more than 30 years, he produced and directed the radio program “Cuba Al Dia” (“Cuba Today”) which began on KGLA radio. He co-hosted the Spanish language program “Cafecito Domenical” on WDSU for 14 years and was a director of La Prensa and a staff writer of Mundo Hispano and Realidad. He was a member of the Colegio de Periodistas De Cuba En Exilio. With others he worked to build the Jose Marti Memorial on Norman Francis Parkway and the plaque on Poydras commemorating that the first flag of Cuba after Spanish liberation was flown in New Orleans. He was active in many Hispanic organizations including serving as president of the Intercontinental Lions Club, Hispanic-American Organization, Cuban Lyceum Jose Marti, and the Junta Patriotica Cubana. He was a member of the Cuban American Foundation and Alpha 66. He acted as a liaison between the Hispanic community and civic leaders in New Orleans, Jefferson Parish and the State of Louisiana including his appointment to the Citizens Advisory Committee on Police Recruitment in 1974 under Chief Clarence Giarusso. The awards and recognitions he received for his services to the Cuban, Hispanic and New Orleans communities are too plentiful to name but he lived his life in dedication to the community. He sympathized with anyone who was fleeing communism and had his friends in the Vietnamese communities who settled in the area and used his connections in shipping to send aid to earthquake and hurricane victims in Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Consuelo M. Pardo, his four children, Maria Mercedes Pardo Huete (David), Lisa Pardo Sharp (Phillip), Elena Pardo Cluff (Todd), and Ricardo A. Pardo, Jr. (Haley). He is also survived by his niece, Mercedes Meireles of Miami, Florida. He was blessed with 13 grandchildren and step-grandchildren: David Jr., Elizabeth, Annalisa, Anthony and August Huete; Sofia and John Sharp; Reagan, Reese and Emerson Cluff; and Elena, Clara and Paloma Pardo. Predeceasing him were his parents, Ricardo Pardo and Maria Augustina Quijada de Pardo, and his sister Mercedes Custin of Havana, Cuba. Services will be held on Saturday, October 16, 2021 at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Boulevard New Orleans, LA 70124. Visitation will begin at 10:30AM followed by a Mass at 1:00PM. Interment will be at Lake Lawn Park. The family invites you to share fond memories and condolences online at www.lakelawnmetairie.com