In the midst of a life-threatening illness, Harold Baquet got through the ordeal with the support of his family and Loyola community, faith, and endurance.
Baquet, the university photographer at Loyola for over 20 years, was diagnosed with colorectal cancer liver metastases
“I had stage four adenoma carcinoma in the liver that spread from the colon to the liver,” Baquet said.
Baquet explained that his cancer was thought to be terminal and doctors estimated he had nine to18 months to live. The breakthrough came for Baquet when his wife, Cheron Brylski-Baquet, A’80, did research and found of a surgical oncologist at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, Baquet said.
“My wife did some research and found out that there was a surgical oncologist in Houston at MD Anderson Cancer Center who’s working on my type of surgery. So we ended up in Houston and we were given hope,” Baquet said.
That hope, Baquet explained, also came from the support of the Loyola community. Baquet said he remembered a time when a group of Loyola faculty cooked dinner for his family for a month.
“Here at Loyola, we are a community that is based on hope, and on faith, and on a grand strategy, and a philosophy as opposed to a bottom line, and this community supported me,” Baquet said.
Despite the statistical improbabilities of his condition, he overcame the odds. Baquet said that any resources or additional support he needed was provided by the Loyola community.
This support, Baquet said, helped him maintain his love for life and photography.
Baquet, a seventh-generation Creole native of New Orleans, started taking photos at the age of 19 and has made it his lifelong career.
“I became interested at 18 and bought my first real camera at 19, a Canon Ae1. I am a self-taught photographer and spent the next eight years trying to perfect the craft,” Baquet said.
He founded a photo news agency called Zone 1 that served the local African American community, Baquet explained.
“I would attend the city press conferences and commercial press conferences,” Baquet said. “I had a police and fire department scanner and could show up at fires in the middle of the night. I had a good time hunting and fishing images.”
His work as an independent journalist led him to Loyola, he said.
Members of the Loyola community expressed that they weretheir happiness at his return.
“There is no one that I know who is as outgoing and friendly and open as Harold,” said mass communications professor Leslie Parr. “He has been an inspiration to everybody.”
But no one happier to be back than Baquet himself.
“Being here is therapy in its own right,” Baquet said.
With his return, Baquet opened an art exhibit displaying his work on Feb. 3. The exhibit features his early work along with political and social commentary on New Orleans culture.
“Just a year ago, I thought this exhibit wouldn’t happen,” Baquet said.
The exhibit will be featured in the Collins C. Diboll Art Gallery located in the Monroe Library through March 24.
Arisa Banks can be reached at
