Lisle Baker Leete

1958 - 2018

December 17, 1958 - October 17, 2018 Lisle Baker Leete, singer, recording engineer, musician, marathoner, amazing father and husband, died October 17th in Los Angeles after a sudden recurrence of the esophageal cancer he had beaten the year before. Lisle was born to Elizabeth and Harmon Leete on Dec. 17, 1958 in Washington, D.C. On Harmon's discharge from the Navy, the family moved to West Hartford, CT, Harmon's birthplace, where Lisle attended local schools. A curious and dreamy boy, he built rockets in the cellar, taught himself the guitar, pestered his siblings, Bill, Russell and Virginia, and could become so absorbed in reading the encyclopedia that he did not hear the dinner bell. He was a lead singer in the Hall High Jazz Show, and went on to be elected to the Sons of Orpheus and Bacchus and Whiffenpoof singing groups at Yale, which he chose over Harvard after a female streaker ran through the Yale class he was visiting and his car was towed during his tour of Harvard. A loyal Yale alumnus, he was rewarded by meeting his true love, classmate Lauri Semarne, mathematician and sketch comedian, at their fifth reunion. After marriage, they lived in New York City for a time, where he managed a recording studio owned by a friend and taught himself to be a recording engineer. In 1994, they moved to Los Angeles. Lisle began working at NBC as a recording engineer/sound mixer in 2005, a job he greatly enjoyed. He also was happy to get to spend five years singing in the award-winning barbershop chorus, Masters of Harmony. Over the years, Lisle campaigned tirelessly for his candidates and causes, and would be chagrined to lose his chance to vote in November, but it is perhaps a consolation that his son Zachary, now a high school senior, will be voting then for his first time. Gifts in Lisle's memory may be made to Doctors Without Borders. A celebration of Lisle's life is planned for January.