LDS Church officials described Rex E. Lee as "a modern-day Job, a giant among men" and "a winner and a champ" as the former Brigham Young University president was laid to rest under blue Provo skies Friday.
President Gordon B. Hinckley of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Mr. Lee, also founding dean of the BYU law school, was a "man among men, unusual and remarkable, really."President Hinckley attended the services along with his counselors President Thomas S. Monson and President James E. Faust, all members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, many members of the Quorums of the Seventy, Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and numerous other federal, state and civic leaders.
President Monson, first counselor in the LDS First Presidency, said Mr. Lee fits the line in a poem that reads: "Here and there and now and then, God places a giant among men."
"Such a giant is Rex E. Lee," said President Monson, who said Mr. Lee comes from a heritage of strength and courage.
"He was a pioneer in everything he did. Rex Lee left a lot in St. Johns (Ariz.), but he took a whole lot with him - the spirit, the faith, the humility of the people - and it never left him.
"We're all better for our association with Rex Lee," said President Monson.
"He was a modern-day Job, and like Job, the main driving force in his life was his belief in God."
President Hinckley said he had a foreboding feeling in October 1995 when he was asked to speak at a university devotional. He suspected it would be his last opportunity to speak about Mr. Lee where Mr. Lee could hear him.
"I used that occasion to speak words of respect and love. I said thank you," said President Hinckley.
President Faust, second counselor in the First Presidency, related a story about Mr. Lee that showed "Rex the humorist" to the audience.
President Faust said he had been making a plea for students "more like I was" to get the chance to attend the BYU law school.
"To make my point," said President Faust, "I said even Abraham Lincoln couldn't qualify for admission.
"Quick as a flash, Rex said, `He showed up one day, but he had a beard!' "
President Faust said Mr. Lee was an accomplished musician, proving so by serenading his sweetheart and soon-to-be wife, Janet Griffin, with a rendition of "Hard-hearted Hannah" on his ukulele.
President Hinckley said no one can or should understand why a man of such brilliance and ability would "be taken" at the young age of 61. "We can only bow our heads and say, `Thy will be done.' "
BYU President Merrill J. Bateman, who took over the office for President Lee in January, said he remembers with awe the blessing he and another man were inspired to give Mr. Lee just after his initial diagnosis with lymphomatic cancer, "a firestorm inside him."
President Bateman said it was made clear in the blessing that Mr. Lee had more work to do before he would succumb to his medical challenges.
Within two years, Lee was called to be the 10th president of the church-owned university in Provo.
Mr. Lee underwent five months of intense chemotherapy that put him into a remission. He developed a nerve condition - another form of cancer later that ultimately forced his retirement and led to his death from respiratory failure.BYU Provost Bruce C. Hafen said Mr. Lee told him, with tears in his eyes, at the time of his appointment to the university presidency that "this means I'm going to live at least several more years."
Janet Lee and her seven children were lauded by those who spoke and reminded to take comfort in knowing that President Lee is in the Lord's hands.
"As long as I've known him, I've sensed that Rex E. Lee's remarkable life was in the Lord's hands," said Hafen.
Elder Dallin H. Oaks said he felt privileged to participate in the "final graduation exercises" for a man with the "education to be learned, the faith to be wise."
Elder Oaks said no one who loved Lee would wish him back to endure more pain and suffering.
President Hinckley said of all the victories Mr. Lee won during his illustrious career as a lawyer and man, perhaps the greatest was won in Cedar City when he healed wounds for the descendants of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
"He was a man who loved peace," he said.
The services were piped by closed circuit television to the Oak Hills Stake Center, where Mr. Lee's viewing had been held, and to locations all over the BYU campus. He was buried at East Lawn Memorial Hills Cemetery, Provo.