BATON ROUGE - On Wednesday, former Baton Rouge Mayor-President Melvin "Kip" Holden lay in state in City Hall ahead of funeral services set for Thursday. 

Kip Holden, who died a week ago at 72, was the first person to be honored in that way. His casket was positioned in the building's lobby and draped with a Baton Rouge flag.

Holden served three terms as mayor-president after starting his political career as a member of the Metro Council and moving on to the state House of Representatives and the state Senate. He was the first Black mayor-president, elected in 2004 by unseating Bobby Simpson.

At a ceremony at City Hall, current Mayor-President Sid Edwards and former mayor Sharon Weston Broome were among the politicians and civic leaders who reflected what his leadership meant to the city-parish.

"It is very fitting that we welcome him back to his City Hall today for so many decisions were made by Mayor Kip Holden and his team, decisions that impact our lives even today," Edwards said.

Broome said it was not a time to "mourn without hope."

"We are here to honor a life well lived, a leader who gave his all, and now rests from his labor. His legacy lives on in the communities he served and the people whose lives he touched," she said.

Recently-elected Metro Councilman Anthony Kenney said he grew up in the same neighborhood where Holden had grown up and went to Scotlandville High and Southern University.

Kenney said he looked up to Holden for "his way to bring people together, to be a unifier in the community."

Jeff LeDuff, who was police chief under Holden and now serves as an assistant chief administrative officer to Edwards, said Holden would have loved the scene at his ceremony.

"To have our community - people who worked with him, people who served with him at the Capitol, here at City Hall - to come out the way they did today, he was sitting somewhere in here with his legs crossed, clapping his hands and grinning his butt off," LeDuff said. 

Visitation at Greater King David Baptist Church on Blount Road is set for 8 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Thursday, with funeral services to follow at 11 a.m.