Necrology

Sterling Lee '46

Mar. 28, 1924-Jun. 18, 2006

Sterling Lee ’46, a lawyer who retired as assistant chief counsel for the National Labor Relations Board, was born on March 28, 1924, in Washington, DC. A son of Frederic P. Lee ’15, a prominent attorney in Washington and trustee of the College, and Marian Armstrong Lee, he was a nephew of George S. Lee, Jr. ’20. Sterling Lee prepared for college at St. Albans School in Washington, where he captained the tennis team, and enrolled at Hamilton from Bethesda, MD, in the summer of 1942. He withdrew in 1943, during the Second World War, to enter the U.S. Navy’s V-12 program at St. Lawrence University. After completing Officer Candidate School, he served as an ensign aboard a landing craft, transporting cargo in the Pacific.

Discharged from the Navy in 1946, Sterling Lee returned to the Hill and completed his course of study. A member of Delta Upsilon and known around campus for his “common sense and pithy sayings,” he was awarded his A.B. degree in 1947. A week later, on June 21, he and Marian B. Keddy, daughter of his father’s classmate John L. Keddy ’15, were wed in Alexandria, VA. By that time, Sterling Lee had already begun preparations at Columbia University Law School for his future career. After obtaining his LL.B. in 1950, he returned to Washington. In 1951, after brief employment by the Interstate Commerce Commission, he joined the National Labor Relations Board. He remained on the Board’s legal staff until his retirement in 1980.

Sterling Lee, whose wife died in 1964, leaving him with three children, was remarried two years later to Patricia Moore Crawford, a widow with seven children of her own. They took up residence in Annandale, VA, in an old farmhouse that Sterling had purchased years earlier and spent much time renovating. Following his retirement, the Lees moved to another old farmhouse on Islesboro, an island in Maine’s Penobscot Bay. There, too, besides finding great pleasure in reading, he enjoyed the work of home rehabilitation with hammer and saw.

Sterling Lee, a loyal alumnus, died on June 18, 2006, while hospitalized in Portland, ME, from complications following heart surgery. In addition to his wife of 40 years, he is survived by a daughter, Kathryn Wilson; two sons, Frederic S. and John K. Lee; and seven stepchildren, 13 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

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