Sam Giordano, the man synonymous with the State Fair of Louisiana as its president and general manager, died early today after battling heart disease a decade.

Just 10 days shy of his 62nd birthday, Giordano was in his 14th year as general manager of the State Fair. His duties also included operation of Hirsch Coliseum as well as parking lots surrounding both the Coliseum and Independence Stadium.

"He was very devoted to this fair, and worked on it day and night," said youngest son Chris Giordano, who has worked for his father the past decade, the last few years as assistant general manager. "His work ethic was unbelievable. He brought it a long way."

Originally from Memphis, Tenn., Giordano started his show career there with the Midsouth Fair. Later, he managed the Greater Baton Rouge State Fair and, just before coming to Shreveport, managed the Heart of Texas Fair in Waco, Texas.

"He was the consummate fair manager," said Shreveport businesswoman Virginia Shehee, whose Rose-Neath Funeral Home in Bossier City will handle his funeral. She is on the fair's executive board and worked with Giordano often. "He was hired by me the year I was chairman of the state fair, and he turned the fair around to a fine state fair. He knew how to upgrade food booths, cow barns, exhibit spaces and the midway. I can't believe he's gone. The board will miss him greatly."

William Cawthorne, the fair board's chairman, said Giordano will be hard to replace. Finding an interim manager will likely be on Cawthorne's agenda Monday when the fair board meets.

"Sam was a good, strong manager," Cawthorne said. "He was a good businessman, and he loved doing what he did. And he did it very well. He was a serious man as the fair went, and it was his life. And he didn't ever meet a stranger."

Independence Bowl Executive Director Missy Setters said Giordano was an outstanding person with whom to work. He would help the Independence Bowl coordinate parking on game days, and for several years hosted events on fairground property for the bowl foundation membership, she said.

"The public side of Sam was not even close to the person he was," Setters said. "We saw a very enjoyable, agreeable person to be with. He was always concerned with making this area the very best it could be. And anybody who worked with him would agree."

Butch Netterfield, owner of Florida-based Netterfield Concessions, which works with fairs nationwide, agreed. He said he knew Giordano more than 20 years, as a supplier, employee, coworker and, when both worked for different carnivals early in their career, as competitor.

"Sam's death is a major loss to the fair industry," Netterfield said. "He was one of the top fair managers in North America. He started out from the bottom up in the fair business, and that was one of the reasons he was a great fair manager. He knew both sides. He was able to draw a line between fair management and concessionaires, and he could draw that line because he had been (a concessionaire) himself. And he'd trained under one of the top fair managers in the world, Wilson Sparkes at the Midsouth Fair in Memphis, Tenn."

Bob Fox, now general manager of the Great Mississippi Valley Fair in Davenport, Iowa, worked at the Louisiana State Fair from 1993 to 1995, and is one of numerous fair professional nationally who learned their trade under the energetic Giordano.

"Back in the day, Sam was a tough guy to work for, but he taught me a lot of things about the industry," Fox said. "He was tough, but fair. You learned a lot from Sam by observing. I called him the 'Teflon manager,' because nothing ever stuck to him. He always bounced back."

Fox spoke to Giordano by phone three times since Giordano entered Willis-Knighton Monday, and thought for a while he'd rallied, but that soon changed.

"He's battled this (heart disease) for a long time, but I never thought anything would happen to him," Fox said. "Then Thursday he took a turn for the worse."

Bill Lowery, owner of Lowery Carnival Company, which comes to the Louisiana State Fair, said he and Giordano have been friends for 30 years. Giordano belonged to a lot of organizations in the amusement business, and was a leader at every one of the meetings he attended for any of them, Lowery added.

Giordano mentored Ralph Shoptaw at the Louisiana State Fair for many years. Shoptaw said the advice he’d received under his tutelage has helped him significantly in his current position, as manager of the Arkansas State Fair.

“He was a brilliant businessman, and a super friend,” Shoptaw said. “He was very well respected in the industry. Hardly a week went by that I didn’t call him, and talk about the fair industry and the entertainment industry.”

Giordano also spoke his mind without hesitation, Lowery and Shoptaw said. And he was known to listen to both sides of an argument, and give a straight answer when asked anything, even if it wasn’t what people wanted to hear, both added.

“The industry has lost one of the leaders who everybody knows, and I’ve lost a good friend,” Lowery said.

Elizabeth Gail Giordano, who was in her 41st year of marriage to Sam Giordano, said he also was devoted to family.

"He lived for his grandkids, and his dog," a boxer named Blaze, she said.

Aside from his youngest son and widow, Giordano is survived by sons Samuel III and Jeffrey, and four grandchildren.