vidalia &8212; Louisiana politics lost one of its leading voices Sunday with the death of newspaper publisher Sam Hanna.

Hanna died at St. Francis Cabrini hospital in Monroe. He was 71.

Friends, colleagues and the people he covered mourned the passing of the owner, editor and publisher of The Concordia Sentinel and remembered him as more than a dedicated journalist. &8220;He loved this community, and he loved what he was doing,&8221; Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland said. &8220;I&8217;m going to miss him very much.&8221;

Hanna got his first taste of politics early, watching his father shave Huey and Earl Long in his barbershop in Winnsboro. His first job was at the Franklin Sun &8212; which he would later own &8212; where he folded papers and then sold them on the street.

After graduating from Louisiana State University, Hanna spent eight years covering the Legislature for both the morning and evening Monroe newspapers.

Hanna moved his family to Ferriday and set his sights on buying The Sentinel, which had been founded by Percy Rountree Jr.&8217;s grandfather in 1882.

&8220;He came to see me, and we talked about it for a few months and he convinced me I should sell him The Sentinel,&8221; Rountree said.

&8220;He kept telling me I knew more about farming than newspapers.&8221;

With some help from Lloyd Love, who knew Hanna from his days as an Eagle Scout, Rountree decided to sell to Hanna and pursue farming.

Rountree never regretted the decision. &8220;I always felt he was an excellent newsman. I used to tell him, as the years went by, that he was a better publisher and editor than I was,&8221; he said. &8220;He liked that.&8221;

As a newsman, Hanna made an impact on those around him.

Louisiana Secretary of State Al Ater remembered visiting Hanna before his first run for the Legislature, when he was 28 years old. &8220;I was about half scared to death when I went to talk with him, and by the time I left, my being scared half to death was justified,&8221; Ater said. &8220;But he gave me a lot of helpful advice, and we&8217;ve been good friends to this day.&8221;

One of those pieces of advice came to Ater after he was in office. In a rush, the young representative asked his secretary to get Hanna on the phone.

&8220;When I got on the line, he said &8216;Al, Edwin Edwards doesn&8217;t have a secretary call me on the phone and I&8217;ll be damned if you&8217;re going to have a secretary call me on the phone.&8217;&8221;

To this day, Ater said he dials his own telephone numbers.

You knew what you were getting with Sam Hanna, everyone agreed. And they loved him for it. &8220;I have never met anyone who was so respected and admired by so many people,&8221; Sentinel sports editor Joey Martin said. &8220;It was truly an honor to have worked with him.&8221;

Stanley Nelson has spent almost the entirety of his journalism career at The Sentinel. He said Hanna taught him &8220;there was a right way to do things and a wrong way, and he believed in doing things the right way.&8221;

Nelson said Hanna also believed in caring for people and treated all of his employees like family. And though he enjoyed scooping the competition &8212; mainly this newspaper &8212; whenever he could, Hanna was always a friend in need.

Natchez Democrat Publisher

Todd Carpenter

called Hanna a good neighbor who put the needs of the community above all else. &8220;If we had a press problem or an equipment problem and we needed Sam, he was always there for us,&8221; he said.

When The Democrat lost power for a day after Hurricane Katrina, Carpenter said Hanna showed his stripes.

&8220;We were able to get the newspaper together, but we wouldn&8217;t have been able to print it if it hadn&8217;t been for Sam,&8221; he said.

Hanna opened The Sentinel to Carpenter, and The Democrat ran on schedule. &8220;He was more interested in making sure the reader got served than in anything else,&8221; Carpenter said.

With Hanna&8217;s weekly column, &8220;One Man&8217;s Opinion,&8221; the reader got served award-winning insight into politics on the local, state and national levels.

His column earned his election into both the LSU Journalism Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame as well as numerous civic and journalism awards.

He served as a director on the Concordia Bank and Trust board for 25 years and as president of the Ferriday Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce. He was also a past president of the Louisiana Press Association.

Hanna leaves behind his wife, Mary Sue, a son and two daughters.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete at this time.