BATON ROUGE — A community memorial was held Saturday morning for Claudis Hampton Cosey, a civic leader whose family described him as a trailblazer.

Cosey passed away in September. His family said he was one of the city's first male hairdressers, opening Cosey's House of Glamour in 1969.

The business served the community through outreach efforts including back to school giveaways and holiday celebrations.

"Watchin him, his entrepreneurship, his community," said Dr. Yasmin Cosey. "He used to throw Easter egg hunts, he threw big back to school events for the kids. Even just showing legacy in the way he teached people how to do hair, putting them through cosmetology school, just paving the way for people when they didn't know what their foundation was going to be."