Montegut resident Chad LeBlanc didn't just have friends – he had brothers.
"He was the most genuine person that you would ever meet," said his sister, Kayla Plaisance. "He had the biggest heart, and anybody he met became family to him. He called everybody brother, sister, aunt or uncle. I don't think there's anybody that could ever have a bad thing to say about him."
LeBlanc, 43, died Friday at West Jefferson Medical Center, the second victim of a Jan. 17 fire at 114 Reynolds St. in Montegut. The first victim, Ernest LeBoeuf, 79, died Thursday at Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center.
Autopsies by the Terrebonne Parish Coroner's Office revealed the cause of death for both victims was suffocation from smoke inhalation. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Plaisance said she misses LeBlanc's text messages asking how she, her husband and children were doing. He accepted people as they were, she said.
A few years ago, several family members took a vacation to Panama City Beach in Florida. Plaisance said LeBlanc had never left Louisiana.
"He was able to ride the banana boat," she said. "He'd never done anything like that, and he was like a big kid. It was so touching to see him get excited over something that most people take for granted."
Elaine Robichaux, described in LeBlanc's obituary as his "mother figure," said he was kind-hearted and generous.
"A big black cloud is over Montegut because everybody loved Chad," she said. "He'd laugh all the time. You'd never see him mad or aggravated. Easy-going, go with the flow. Nobody that I know ever was mad at Chad."
Robichaux said LeBlanc loved the New Orleans Saints, LSU and crabbing. Mardi Gras was his favorite time of the year, and he rode in parades in Chauvin and Grand Caillou.
Tracey Ledet said her uncle was LeBlanc's step-father, and LeBlanc became part of the family. He was loving, caring and was close friends with her boyfriend.
"In my eyes, he's a hero because he was trying to save Mr. Ernest," she said. "Chad loved to sit and talk and laugh. Chad would help everybody. If anybody needed anything, Chad was there."
-- Staff Writer Bridget Mire can be reached at 448-7639 or bridget.mire@dailycomet.com. Follow her on Twitter @bridget_mire.