Dr. Scott R. Lee

1966 - 2022

News story
By Mark Zaborney
Blade Staff Writer

Dr. Scott R. Lee, a former civil engineer who became a family practice physician and then cared for the underserved in Toledo, died Tuesday at Hospice of Northwest Ohio, South Detroit Avenue. He was 56.

He had lung cancer, his wife, Jean Kay Lee, said.

"He was accepting from day one. He treated many patients who went through similar things with no rhyme or reason," Mrs. Lee said. "One thing he wanted to make sure people knew was he never smoked a day in his life. [The cancer] was due to mutation."

Dr. Lee of Perrysburg regarded the targeted treatment he received as a big medical advance. He responded well at first, but in time the tumor mutated again, Mrs. Lee said.

An oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and a local oncologist coordinated treatment, and he received care through ProMedica Flower Hospital in Sylvania - where he had done his family practice residency.

"He was treated well here all the way, in cooperation with Mass General. He had tender loving care," said Mrs. Lee, who is an orthodontist.

After his residency, Dr. Lee, who grew up in Rossford, joined Fallen Timbers Family Physicians. He was in practice there until 2017. Some patients came to their appointment unsettled by problems they couldn't name.

"He was able to bring them comfort and let them know what was going on and give them a sense of security, being able to trust him with their care," his daughter Michelle Lee said. "He found that gratifying."

He retired in 2019 from Neighborhood Health Association, which offers care to those who are homeless, lack insurance, or otherwise are underserved. In his residency he'd also worked at the Mildred Bayer Clinic, operated by the association.

"He had always said when he was done with private practice, he wanted to return back there. He had come to a point where he was ready to make that change," Mrs. Lee said.

Some patients he picked up and brought to the clinic when he saw them on the street. Some who needed tests found he'd paid for their ride.

"We all remember him as being really compassionate and able to connect with people in a way that sometimes can be rare for providers," said Doni Miller, chief executive of the association. "He seemed to just kind of know what they needed and make the visit remarkably easy for the patients and terribly productive from the medical perspective.''

Dr. Lee also supported and, with his family, volunteered at Vision Kitchen, which offers hot meals three nights a week in South Toledo and supplies families with take-home food boxes.

In 2019, he, his wife, and their daughters Michelle and Grace went on a medical mission to Guatemala organized by the Special Commission on Relief and Education of the Filipino Association of Toledo. He provided medical care and his wife dental care. Their daughters, who speak Spanish, offered translations.

"He was so excited, and especially being able to serve with me and our daughters," Mrs. Lee said. "That was a big part of his retirement plan. He and I wanted to travel the world, and we wanted to do medical missions."

She and their daughters plan to continue that legacy, she said.

He was born May 1, 1966, in Seoul, South Korea, to Jung Ok Ko and Chung Soo Lee. The family moved to the United States for a better life and to the Toledo area, where his mother's sister lived.

He was a graduate of Rossford High School and of Ohio State University, from which he received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering.

"He's got an engineering mind. He was very logical. He liked facts," Mrs. Lee said. "His interest was in structural engineering, where he could make sense of how things come together."

He began his career at the firm Black & Veatch in Cincinnati.

"He worked primarily behind a desk, and he felt he wasn't helping people," daughter Michelle said. "It was the desire to help others that pushed him into medicine."

In medicine, he could combine his compassionate and logical sides to help people, she added.

He received his medical degree in 1998 from Case Western Reserve University.

Dr. Lee remained a fan of Ohio State football. He liked to golf at Belmont Country Club and Riverby Hills Golf Club and looked forward to the annual family ski vacations in Utah.

He enjoyed being with people, daughter Michelle said, but he also enjoyed time alone and with family.

"That meant a lot to him," she said. "He also was a very goofy guy. He was a serious man at work, but he would come home and was a different person. He was always cracking jokes and making us laugh."

Mrs. Lee said: "Scott made me and the girls promise we will live every day of our lives to the fullest, and that's going to be our new journey. I will invite all our family and friends on our journey to honor him."

Surviving are his wife, Myung Jean Kay Lee, whom he married Oct. 24, 1998; daughters Michelle Lee and Grace Lee; mother, Jung Ok Ko, and brothers Steve Lee, and Jim Lee.

Funeral services will begin at noon Saturday at Coyle Funeral Home, with visitation after 10 a.m.

Vision Kitchen of Vision Ministries 1630 Broadway, Toledo, 43609; Special Commission on Relief and Education - SCORE - P.O. Box 715, Maumee, 43537-0715, or Hospice of Northwest Ohio.