 maurice edwin landrieu, known as moon landrieu (born july 23, 1930), is a democratic politician from louisiana who served as mayor of new orleans from 1970 to 1978. he also is a former judge. he represented new orleans' twelfth ward in the louisiana house of representatives from 1960 to 1966, served on the new orleans city council as a member at-large from 1966 to 1970 and was the united states secretary of housing and urban development under u.s. president jimmy carter from 1979 to 1981. == early life and career == moon landrieu was born in uptown new orleans, the son of joseph g. landrieu (owner of a small corner grocery) and loretta (nÃ©e bechtel). joseph g. landrieu's paternal grandparents, geoffroy stanislas landrieu and melanie lemoine, had immigrated to new orleans from france in 1848. maurice acquired the nickname "moon" in his early childhood and later had his name legally changed. he went to jesuit high school. a promising athlete, landrieu won a baseball scholarship at loyola university new orleans, where he received a bachelor of arts in business administration in 1952 and a law degree in 1954. as an undergraduate, he was elected student body president at loyola. after a three year stint in the united states army, landrieu opened a law practice and taught accounting 
1930_births Carter_administration_cabinet_members Jesuit_High_School_(New_Orleans)_alumni Landrieu_family Living_people Louisiana_Democrats Louisiana_lawyers Louisiana_state_court_judges Mayors_of_New_Orleans,_Louisiana Members_of_the_Louisiana_House_of_Representatives New_Orleans_City_Council_members United_States_Army_personnel United_States_Secretaries_of_Housing_and_Urban_Development