Rex E. Lee argued law with U.S. Supreme Court justices; he talked politics with presidents and senators and discussed education at Brigham Young University with students, professors and church leaders. And when he talked, they listened.
Lee, who retired as president of BYU in 1995, died Monday. He had directed the university - where he had been student body president and had received a bachelor's degree in 1960 - for six and a half years.Before he became a leader in education, Lee was well-known and respected as an attorney and legal expert. He had been a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron White after receiving a juris doctorate from the University of Chicago. He was appointed solicitor general for the U.S. Department of Justice and argued a total of 59 cases before the Supreme Court.
Lee was a partner in law firms based in Chicago and Phoenix. He was founding dean of the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU before being named university president in 1989.
Lee was well-known in legal circles for his keen mind and love for the law. In community, church and family circles, he was loved for his humility, integrity and untiring commitment to the values of service and compassion.
During his years at BYU, he worked with faculty and students on difficult issues including academic freedom and bureaucracy, growth and maintaining a focus on undergraduate programs. He boosted fund raising and defined the mission of the largest church-owned university in the country.
At the same time, Lee fought a private battle with a form of cancer and peripheral neuropathy, a nerve disease that had a progressive effect on his arms and legs and ability to walk.
His love for the university kept him going, despite the physical problems. His tenure as president was marked by hard work and devotion to the students and the institution.
Along with his many professional accomplishments Lee set an outstanding example as a family man. He and his wife, Janet, raised seven sons and daughters. He was an extraordinarily gifted man who was never impressed by those gifts but always felt they were his to share.
A model of integrity, he will be missed by myriad friends and associates who have unanimously praised his loyalty and commitment to values and his unfailing generosity toward those around him.