John Lee

1943 - 2025

John W. Lee III, a William & Mary tax law professor who overcame a difficult childhood on the brink of poverty to influence the writing of tax laws, died Nov. 11 at the age of 82.

John spent his early years in Dayton, Ohio, and the majority of his formative years in Roaring Gap, N.C., raised by his maternal grandparents Mabel and Jesse Bryant. Growing up in the mountains left a mark that never left him.

He graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He converted to Judaism while there.

John was always driven to prove himself, with a chip on his shoulder from his working-class childhood, and the pain of being abandoned by his parents.

He graduated from UVA Law in 1968. He received an LLM in tax law from Georgetown, while he clerked for a judge on the U.S. Tax Court.

He moved to the Richmond area to take a job at Hirschler, Fleischer. He quickly made partner.

In 1981, he joined the faculty of William and Mary's Marshall-Wythe School of Law, where he worked until he retired in 2015. He testified on tax law several times in front of Congress.

His favorite article title: "A Populist Political Perspective of the Business Tax Entities Universe: Hey the Stars Might Lie, but the Numbers Never Do."

In addition to the varying tax treatment of S Corps and C Corps, his children learned a number of things from their Dad -- how to tell the difference between confidently asserted B.S. and actual knowledge; how to unashamedly own your enthusiasms; how *not* to drive; how to hold your own in a debate.

Although he was a workaholic, he had many other passions that he could go on at length about, including genealogy, history and Hank Williams.

In his 50s, he found his father and developed a close relationship. He came to know many half-siblings in Indiana. He also reconciled with his mother in middle age and visited her and his two younger half-brothers in Dayton.

He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Margaret Lee; his first wife Sharon Conklin; five half-sisters and six half-brothers; children Josh, Mara, Ben, Dan, Sam, Suzy and Sarah; two daughters-in-law and two sons-in-law, and three grandchildren.

A date for a memorial service at William & Mary's law school has not been set.