Happy Birthday Founder John Milton Lee!

 

​Founder Lee was an idealist, commonly referred to as ‘a dreamer.’ He was born in Danville, IN, on September 7, 1890.

He entered Indiana University in 1910 and completed three years before leaving school. Founder Lee enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University but withdrew for health reasons and due to a death in the family in 1914 and 1915, respectively.

Founder Lee enlisted in the Army in 1917, during WWI. He was a non-commissioned officer assigned to Battery F, 349th Field Artillery Regiment, the first Negro Artillery Regiment in military history. He served overseas as a Sergeant First Class and Gunner. His battery was the first Negro Artillerymen Battery to open fire upon an enemy. Lee fired the first shot. He was an associate editor of Modern Artillerymen, the official record of Battery F.

He helped organize and served as president of the Fairview Golf Club, Pennsylvania’s first Negro Golf Club. He was the editor of Fairview’s monthly publication, The Golfer. In 1931, he married Mary Walker Robinson.

Vocationally, Founder Lee was engaged in several enterprises:
• For eight years, he operated a successful Philadelphia catering business
• He organized the Mutual Emergency Union and served as vice president and secretary
• He was a board member of the Columbia Community YMCA Branch

Founder Lee assisted in developing the fraternity’s emblems and helped to establish the Epsilon, Lambda, and Philadelphia (PA) Alumni Chapters. He served as Philadelphia Alumni’s interim Polemarch until its first Polemarch was elected.

He died on January 3, 1958. He is the only Founder to be cremated. His ashes are preserved in an urn at the fraternity’s International Headquarters in Philadelphia, PA.

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Kevin Scott
Grand Historian