W. Lee Pierson ’61

Lee died March 17, 2014, in Branford, Conn.

Born in New Haven, he came to us from the Choate School. At Princeton, he majored in politics, took his meals at Quad, worked on the Prince staff, and was a Keyceptor. He roomed with John Greist and Jon Hlafter.

Lee earned a master’s degree at Penn and a Ph.D. in education at Harvard. After teaching at Exeter and Athens College in Greece, and serving as special assistant to four successive U.S. commissioners of education, he entered into a distinguished career of leading independent secondary schools. Among them were Athens College; Rye (N.Y.) Country Day for 14 years; Francis Parker in California; and the Collegiate School in New York City, the nation’s oldest educational institution.

In his later years, Lee led still other schools as interim headmaster and served on many nonprofit boards, including that of Athens College, the New Haven Symphony, and the Phoenix (Ariz.) Theatre.

In retirement he and Andrée, his wife of 50 years, lived in Branford, in his beloved Connecticut. He is survived by Andreé; daughter Christine and her family, including three grandchildren; son Glen ’90; and son-in-law Charles Reed.