James Thomas Lee (October 2, 1877 – January 3, 1968)[1] was an American lawyer, banker, and real estate investor. He was the maternal grandfather of former First LadyJacqueline Kennedy and Princess Lee Radziwill.
Early life
Lee was born in Manhattan on October 2, 1877. He was the only surviving son and eldest of ten children, six of whom lived to adulthood, born to Dr. James Lee (born 1852)[2] and Mary Theresa Lee, née Norton (born c. 1851),[3] both children of Irish Catholic immigrants. His father being born and raised in Newark, New Jersey to parents from County Cork and his mother was born to parents from County Tipperary and raised by her uncle in Troy, New York after being orphaned at a young age.[4][5] He met his wife when they were both teaching in Troy.[4][5] His father received his M.D. at Bellevue College in 1880 and became a doctor and later, district superintendent of New York City Public Schools.
In 1898, after a year spent studying violin, Lee enrolled in the City College of New York to study engineering. In two years, he had joined Delta Kappa Epsilon and was working as a law clerk earning $6-a-week. In 1901, he graduated from City College and then enrolled in a master's program at Columbia University in political science and economics. He graduated with an A.M. degree in 1902 and then began law school, graduating from Columbia Law School in 1903.[6]
Career
After graduating law school and serving as a clerk, Lee then opened his own law practice. Aware of the impending construction of the Seventh Avenue Subway, he began buying property along the proposed route which tripled in value after the Subway became a fact.[7] By 1910, his career was focused primarily on real estate development, and was eventually responsible for building more than two hundred residential and commercial buildings.[8] His company, of which he was president, was the real-estate focused Shelton Holding Corporation.[1]
By 1908, Lee and his partner, Charles R. Fleischmann, built the 12-story Peter Stuyvesant apartments at the corner of 98th and Riverside Drive, designed by William L. Rouse.[8]
Between 1913 and 1920, he built a series of office buildings near Grand Central Terminal, the Central Building on 45th Street, the Berkeley Building on 44th Street and the National Association Building on 43rd Street, all designed by Starrett & van Vleck.[8] In 1923, he built the Shelton Hotel (today the New York Marriott East Side) at 49th Street and Lexington Avenue, designed by Arthur Loomis Harmon, which at the time was the tallest hotel in the world at 24 stories.[8]
In 1928, he was elected to the board of the Chase National Bank and stayed with them until 1943 when he began serving as president and chairman of the board of the Central Savings Bank.[1]
On October 7, 1903, Lee was married to teacher Margaret Ann Merritt (1880–1943),[12] who had been born in New York City to Irish immigrants from County Clare, Thomas Merritt and Maria, née Curry.[6][13] Together, they were the parents of:
His wife died unexpectedly, at age 63, at their daughter Marion's home in Hewlett Bay Park in February 1943.[12] She and her husband had been estranged for many years, but remained married. Lee died at his home, 580 Park Avenue in Manhattan, on January 3, 1968.[26][4] After a funeral at the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer in Manhattan, he was buried alongside his parents at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, NY.[1]
^"MRS. J. L. BOUVIER IS WED IN VIRGINIA; Becomes the Bride of Lieut. Hugh D. Auchincloss. U.S.N., at His Country Home". The New York Times. June 23, 1942. p. 24.
