Frederick Lee Hawes ’49

Frederick Lee Hawes, known as “Lee,” died Sept. 10, 2012.

Lee was born June 27, 1927, in St. Louis. After St. Louis Country Day School and Navy service from 1944 to 1945, he came to Princeton. He majored in economics, was on the business staff of The Daily Princetonian, and joined the Catholic Club and Colonial Club.

Lee’s business career began in the plastics industry, and in 1965 he founded Tetra Plastics, a plastics-extrusion company. This very successful enterprise, which served industries as diverse as skiing, beverage distribution, nuclear energy, and athletic footwear, was sold to Nike in 1995. Thereafter he worked in fundraising for good causes, helped a monastic community in Great Britain adopt modern business practices, bicycled, hiked, played tennis and golf, climbed mountains, and photographed the world.

Lee’s wife of 61 years, Florence “Sissy” Weld Hawes; his children, Elizabeth Brown, Marion Hawes, Noel Mangano, and Frederick Hawes Jr.; and 10 grandchildren survive him. The class extends its sympathy to them all.