Slidell Councilman Kevin Kingston, 48, died peacefully at his residence Thursday afternoon after a long bout with liver disease.

Kingston, a former Slidell restaurant owner, and seafood businessman served as District D Councilman from 1998 to 2006, and was currently in his first term as councilman at large, representing the entire city of Slidell.

“He is certainly going to be missed,” Mayor Ben Morris said Friday.

Kingston

Kingston, a native of St. Louis, Miss., moved to Slidell in 1979. He once owned L’il Ray’s Restaurant on Front Street for 18 years, and then owned and operated Kingfish Seafood Market on Pontchartrain Drive.

He got started in politics in 1994, when he ran and lost to Belinda Levy for the District D Council seat. He beat Levy in 1998, and was the District D representative for two terms. He ran unopposed for the council at large seat in 2006. During his term as at large representative, Kingston served as Council Vice-President from Jan. 1, 2006 to Dec. 31, 2006, and was elected by the Council to serve as Council President from Jan. 2007 to Dec. 31, 2007.

During his time as Council President, Kingston and Morris were famous for their back-and-forth bantering during Council meetings. Publicly, it seemed that Kingston and Morris were always at odds, but Morris said he was always good friends with Kingston.

“We didn’t always agree on everything, but the disagreements never left the Council Chambers,” Morris said. “He was a friend, and and loved this city.”

One issue that showed Kingston’s interest in his constituency was his fight with the mayor over letting a handful of residents who had lived in trailers in Lincoln Heights subdivision before Hurricane Katrina, replace the storm-damaged trailers with new mobile homes, despite a city ban on any new trailers in the city. Kingston and District A Councilman Lionel Hicks pushed through legislation allowing only those residents the permission to have trailers, over the strong vocal objections of Morris, and some Council members.

Kingston had a long battle with liver disease. It got so bad that he had to have a liver transplant in March, 2003. Though the transplant was a success, Kingston’s health was in decline in the past several months.

He said the transplant had given him a new lease on life, even though he was forbidden by doctors from ever eating his favorite food, raw oysters. Also, he had to watch how he handled raw seafood at Kingfish Seafood Market. But he maintained a cheerful attitude about his health problems. After the transplant, he said, “every day is a gift.”

His health problems did not deter him from serving his constituents. He was known as a very generous and kind-hearted person. Before his illness, Kingston was famous for his yearly Christmas and Easter parties for all the constituents in his district. He paid for the parties and every child that attended got a gift.

“He served the people with a big heart,” Morris said.

Kingston is survived by his wife, Belinda, three sons, two daughters, two sisters, and five grandchildren.

There will be a visitation from 7 to 10 p.m. Monday at the Honaker Funeral Home, 1751 Gause Blvd. West. The funeral with Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. Luke the Evangelist Church, 910 Cross Gates Blvd., and interment will follow at the Forest Lawn Cemetery.