John Maxim Lee died on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020, of Parkinson’s Disease. He was 93. He was the oldest son of Percy Maxim Lee and John Glessner Lee of Farmington and Mystic Connecticut. He attended the Junior School, now Renbrook School, followed by Phillips Academy Andover, Massachusetts where he met Rosalie Benton, his wife of 73 years. He served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army Airforce before entering the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he earned a B.S. in economics and chemical engineering. He then worked for E.I. DuPont in Wilmington, Delaware as a Development Engineer specializing in developing a process for extracting refractory metals such as, zirconium and niobium from their ores. After briefly working on the development of vacuum processes and equipment for the National Research Corporation in Massachusetts, he joined Pratt Whitney Aircraft in East Hartford, Connecticut where he worked until he retired in 1990.
Jack’s career at Pratt & Whitney was devoted to the development of alternative energy systems such as solar, wind and thermal conversion. In 1960 Pratt & Whitney became involved in the planning and development of the Apollo Fuel Cell Program to land a man on the moon. After working on the development, design, manufacture and testing of fuel cells, Jack became Program Manager of Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Fuel Cells, which became International Fuel Cells Corporation and provided power for the Command and Service Modules on all of the Apollo missions and then the Space Shuttles. Later he became Director of Engineering, Power Systems Division of International Fuel Cells Corporation in a joint venture with Toshiba to develop commercial fuel cell direct energy conversion systems.
Jack and Rosalie’s shared love for cruising took them on many adventures. After both retired in 1990, they sailed their ketch, Aurora, to Florida and soon thereafter spent four years sailing throughout the Caribbean as far as Venezuela. Both of them became Commodores in the Seven Seas Cruising Association. Upon returning from the Caribbean, they explored the rivers and canals of Europe in a motor sailor, Aurora II and over the next five years they motor sailed from Stockholm through Europe to Naples.
Jack is a former Corporator of Renbrook School and served as the first president of the Board of Friends of CT Public Television. He was President of the Hartt School of Music Board, a member of the University Club of Hartford, the Amateur Radio Relay League, the U.S. Power Squadron and the Mystic Harbor Commission. He is a member of the Ram Island Yacht Club and has been a member of the Mystic Seaport Museum for over 60 years.
Jack was predeceased by his son Stephen Maxim Lee and is survived by his wife, Rosalie, their daughters Virginia (Gigi) Lee and her partner, Mark Hinkley, of Charleston, R.I. and Martha (Molly) Lee and her husband Michael Winitsky, of Barrington, R.I., daughter-in-law Barbara Palm Lee of Plympton, MA., four grandchildren Julia and Emma Winitsky of Barrington, RI., Adam Lee of Cranston, RI., Peter Lee and his wife Lyndsay of Plympton, MA., and four great grandchildren, Tyler, Morgan, Matthew and Christopher Jay Lee.
A gathering in celebration of his life will be held at a later date. If you choose to make a gift in his memory, one to Doctors Without Borders is one he would have liked. Doctors Without Borders USA P.O. Box 5030 Hagerstown, MD 21741-5030 https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/onetime.cfm
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