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Friedman was born in [[rural]] Natchez in Natchitoches Parish, not to be confused with the larger and better known Natchez, [[Mississippi]]. He was a large landowner, a [[farmer]], and a [[cattle]]man. He was a president of the Louisiana Cattleman’s Association.<ref name=nsu >{{cite web|url=http://facilityuse.nsula.edu/friedman-student-union-2|title=Northwestern State University: Friedman Student Union|publisher=facilityuse.nsula.edu|accessdate=September 8November 12, 20092019}}</ref>Prior to his legislative service, Friedman was a member of the Natchitoches Parish Police Jury, the equivalent to the county commissionw, in other states, including eight years as the jury president.<ref name=lapol>{{cite web|url=http://www.lapoliticalmuseum.com/inductees.php?viewID=23|title=Political Hall of Fame: Sylvan Friedman|publisher=lapoliticalmuseum.com|accessdate=September 8, 2009}}</ref> During his tenure, Natchitoches Parish in 1939 erected its existing [[courthouse]] in downtown [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]].

Prior to his legislative service, Friedman was a member of the Natchitoches Parish Police Jury, the equivalent to the county commissionw, in other states, including eight years as the jury president.<ref name=lapol>{{cite web|url=Legislative yearshttp://www.lapoliticalmuseum.com/inductees.php?viewID=23|title=Political Hall of Fame: Sylvan Friedman|publisher=lapoliticalmuseum.com|accessdate=November 12, 2019}}</ref>

In the state HouseDuring his tenure, Friedman and Numa T. Delouche (1888-1965), a [[Roman Catholic]] from Cloutierville, filled the Natchitoches Parish seats vacated in 1944 by John O. Williams and Arthur C. Watson, an 1939 erected its existing court house in downtown [[attorney]] and bank director who later was chairman of the Louisiana Democratic State Central Committee]]. In Friedman’s second House term, which began in 1948, Delouche was replaced by Roy Sanders (1904-1976), the principal]] of Readhimer High School in the Chestnut community north of Black Lake and a leader in the push for adult education in the legislature.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=120981934&PIpi=98708898|title=Roy Sanders|publisher=''Winn Parish Enterprise News-American'' retrieved from Findagrave.com|location=WinnfieldNatchitoches, Louisiana|date=December 29, 1976|accessdate=September 9, 2014}}</ref> When Friedman won election to the Senate, the Friedman and Sanders House seats were taken by two other Democrats, Curtis Boozman (1898-1979).<ref name=ssdi/> and Monnie Tom Cheves (1902-1988), a member of the [[Northwestern State UniversityNatchitoches]] faculty.<ref name =lahouse>{{cite web|url=http://house.louisiana.gov/H_PDFdocs/HouseMembership_History_CURRENT.pdf|titleLegislative years=Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2020 (Natchitoches Parish)|publisher=Louisana House of Representatives|accessdate=September 10, 2014}}</ref>

As a senator, Friedman served with four governors: [[Robert F. Kennon]], [[Earl Long|Earl Kemp Long]], [[Jimmie Davis]], and [[John J. McKeithen]]. During his lengthy career, he was a member of the legislative budget committee. He also served on committees on [[higher education]], finance, and judiciary.<ref name=lapol/> Friedman unseated the 28-year-old one-term state Senator Lloyd F. Wheat (born 1923) of Coushatta in Red River Parish in the Democratic primary. At various times, in addition to Natchitoches Parish, he represented Red River, [[Winn Parish, Louisiana|Winn]], [[Grant Parish, Louisiana|Grant]], and a portion of [[Rapides Parish, Louisiana|Rapides]] parishes.<ref name=nsu/>

In 1963, then freshman state Representative [[Paul Foshee]] did not seek reelection but instead unsuccessfully challenged Friedman for the Senate seat. In his last term from 1968 to 1972, Friedman and [[Cecil R. Blair]], an [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]] businessman, represented a since disbanded two-member multi-parish district, which included Grant Parish. Friedman served a term as Senate President Pro Tempore, in which capacity he was the acting governor] if the chief executive and the lieutenant governor were both simultaneously out of state. The position made him third in succession to the governorship.<ref name=nsu/>

A personal friend of Earl Long, Friedman frequently dined with the governor, eating cornbread, greens, sweet potatoes, and drinking buttermilk in the old Governor's Mansion in Baton Rouge. During Long's tenure, Friedman had a room reserved at the mansion and was a late night "political talking companion."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thepineywoods.com/BlancoHall.htm|title=Governor [[Kathleen Blanco ]] heads list for [2006] Hall of Fame induction|author=James Ronald Skains|publisher=The Piney Woods. com|accessdate=September 18, 2009; no longer on-line}}</ref>

Friedman lost his bid for a sixth term in the 1971-1972 election cycle, having been eliminated as the third-place candidate in the primary. Former Representative [[Paul Foshee ]] of Natchitoches then defeated state Senator Willard L. Rambo of Georgetown, Louisiana, in Grant Parish in the runoff election, a member of the extended [[Earl Long|Long]] political faction. Foshee then prevailed against [[Bob Reese]], a [[Republican Party|Republican]] opponent in the general election held on February 1, 1972. In 1975, Foshee was unseated by [[Don Kelly|Donald Gene Kelly]], a Natchitoches Democratic attorney and horse breeder, who held the seat until 1996.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.senate.la.gov/Documents/Membership/EAHSenatorList1880ForwardJan2012.pdf|title=Membership of the Louisiana State Senate, 1880-Present|publisher=Louisiana State Senate|accessdate=November 12, 2019}}</ref>

Friedman was a member of the Southern Regional Education Board. He was a former "Man of the Year" of the Natchitoches Parish [[Chamber of Commerce]].<ref name=nsu/> In 1988, [[Northwestern State University]] renamed its student center in Friedman’s honor.<ref name=lapol/> As a senator, Friedman had been instrumental in obtaining the student center, as well as Prather Coliseum and several campus residential halls and classroom buildings.<ref name=nsu/>

|title=Jewish Cemetery, Natchitoches, Louisiana|publisher=rootsweb.ancestry.com|accessdate=September 8November 12, 20092019}}</ref> one of whose members, the Kaffies, founded the oldest still standing hardware store in Louisiana. A long-time member of Congregation Gemiluth Chassodim in nearby Alexandria, he is interred next to his wife, Elizabeth H. Friedman (October 12, 1912 &ndash; July 3, 1969), at the Jewish Cemetery in Natchitoches. There is an accompanying marker identified as "Infant" Friedman, November 7, 1945.<ref name=jewish/> The couple had a surviving son, Sam Friedman, a businessman and attorney who in 2009 reopened the Roosevelt Hotel in [[New Orleans]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.myneworleans.com/Louisiana-Life/July-August-2009/Roosevelt-Returns/|author=Paul F. Stahls, Jr.|title=Roosevelt Returns: This downtown New Orleans hotel has a long and colorful past -- and future|date=July–August 2009|publisher=myneworleans.com|accessdate=September 9November 12, 20092019}}</ref> Friedman had a namesake nephew, Sylvan I. Friedman, of New Orleans, son of Friedman's brother, Harry Friedman, Sr.

Sylvan Friedman was not the first or second Jewish legislator from Natchitoches Parish. Much earlier, [[Leopold Caspari (1830-1915)]], who in 1884 pushed successfully for the creation of Northwestern State University, also served in both houses of the legislature, nonconsecutively non-consecutively between 1884 and 1914.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lahistory.org/resources/dictionary-louisiana-biography/dictionary-louisiana-biography-c/|title=Caspari, Leopold|publisher=Louisiana Historical Association: ''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography'' (lahistory.org)|accessdate=November 12, 2019}}</ref> Prior to Friedman's death, [[Arnold Jack Rosenthal]], a Jewish lawyer and businessman in Alexandria, with maternal roots in Natchitoches, served as his city's last finance and utilities commissioner.

In 2006, Friedman was posthumously inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield. Two years later, another District 31 state senator, Don Kelly, who served from 1976 to 1996, was named to this same Hall of Fame. As was customary for the organization, [[cartoon]]ist [[Pap Dean]], prepared a caricature of the late Natchitoches lawmaker.<ref name=lapol/>