Albert Graham Lee IV

1944 - 2016

LEE IV, ALBERT GRAHAM
72, of Rumford passed away December 24, 2016 at home. He was born in New York City on March 20, 1944. At the end of July, 1945, he and his parents, Albert G. Lee, III (a newly commissioned officer in the U.S. Army) and Marie Stewart Lee, headed cross country in Thunderbolt, their Ford, to Fort Lewis, Washington. His father was to be part of the invasion of Japan. When Japan surrendered, mother, father and child stayed in Seattle for a year before settling in Connecticut.
Bert grew up in Newington, CT with his parents and his sister Judy, who was born in 1947. In 1956, the Lee family moved to West Hartford, where Bert attended the Loomis School, graduating cum laude in 1962. He majored in Economics at Princeton University, graduating in 1966. At Princeton, he was a member of the Campus Club and the Princeton Glee Club.
Upon graduating from Princeton, Bert attended the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with a Master's degree in 1968. He then volunteered for military service, entering Navy Officer Candidate School at Newport, Rhode Island. As an officer on the U. S. S. Independence, he served in the Mediterranean during the Vietnam War.
He began a career in international finance in 1970, moving to New York City and working for Standard Oil/Esso (now Exxon/Mobil) and Singer Sewing Machine. Later he worked for Monsanto in St. Louis, Emerson Electric in Chicago, and BTR in Rhode Island. In his second career, he was an executive recruiter for corporations seeking high-level financial and biotechnology personnel.
Bert loved singing and he was active in the Blue Hill Troupe, as well as the Canterbury Choral Society in New York City. His stalwart tenor was always valued in any group. He loved to play the piano and mastered popular classics from the 1920s through the 1950s.
For the past 35 years, he lived in Rumford, Rhode Island, where he gradually restored his 1850 farmhouse and its beautiful gardens. In his retirement, he tutored students of English as a Second Language at International House in Providence and at Literacy Volunteers of East Bay in Warren, R.I.. He also provided support in Math and English skills to students in two Providence Public High Schools.
Over the years, Bert developed countless friendships in the Providence area, while staying in frequent touch with his classmates from Princeton and Loomis.
Bert founded and for years moderated the first Socrates Café in Rhode Island. This discussion group met at Books on the Square in Providence and was focused on Exploration of topics of universal importance.
He is survived by his sister, Judith Lee Moeckel, and her husband Jeffrey Moeckel, of Killingworth, CT. He also leaves his first cousins, Lee and Don Chapman, and their wives Marybeth and Barbara Chapman, of Laguna Beach and La Habra, CA, and their children and grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held at 11 am on Tuesday, January 10, 2017 at St. Martin's Episcopal Church, 50 Orchard Avenue, Providence, RI. Calling hours are from 5 to 7 pm on Monday, January 9, 2017 at Monahan, Drabble & Sherman Funeral Home, 230 Waterman Street, Providence RI.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, 1275 Peachtree Street, NW, Atlanta GA 30309, or online at www.bgca.org, or to a charity of one's choice.
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