Deceased June 12, 2019
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In Memory
After several months dealing with lung cancer, Lee died comfortably on June 12, 2019, at his summer farm in Auburn, N.Y., attended by his wife, Clare.
Lee and I were friends for 72 years, meeting at reunions and homecomings and more frequently when he settled in Vero Beach for the winter months. It was great fun when Clare and my new wife, Nancy Dupree, became instant close friends, and the four of us cruised the Caribbean in 2017.
At Amherst, Lee was not a distinguished student, as Dean Scott Porter reminded him on a few occasions, but he muddled through and graduated on schedule. He thoroughly enjoyed his college years.
After Amherst, Lee went into banking, primarily in the Foreign Exchange Department of the Morgan Guaranty Trust Co., and subsequently running the New York office of Banque Canadienne Nationale.
In 1979 he exchanged his business suit for blue jeans, pursuing a lifelong dream of operating a farm. He purchased a small parcel on Owasco Lake in Auburn, N.Y., gradually adding to it to reach 500 acres, 350 tillable, and a commercially viable enterprise growing oats, wheat and rye.
He married Corinne Spellman, who previously had a daughter, Lisa, and after Corinne died he remained very close to Lisa. He married Clare Callaghan in 2000. She exhibited her prescience in organizing an elaborate three-day celebration for Lee’s 89th birthday at the Quail Valley River Club in Vero in March 2019. He was able to have a grand time, enjoy several Dewars and boogie on the dance floor.
Lee is also survived by a sister, Virginia, whose grandson, Tommy Sweeney, played as a tight end for Boston College and was drafted by the Buffalo Bills.
Lee was a good guy who loved life, and the love was returned.
Dick Snodgrass ’51