Thomy Lafon

His mother, Modeste Foucher, was a mistress of Barthelemy Lafon, though Thomy's father was Pierre Larande.

He started out selling cakes to workers, opened a small store, was a school teacher for a time, and became successful at money lending and real estate investment.

He is mostly known for his large donations to the Institute Catholique, the Louisiana Association for the Benefit of Colored Orphans, and other charities for both blacks and whites.

[2][3] Lafon also supported the Tribune, the first black-owned newspaper in the South after the American Civil War.

[citation needed] The Thomy Lafon school was called "the best Negro schoolhouse in Louisiana," but it was burned down by a white mob during the New Orleans Robert Charles riots of 1900.