Walter Ashton Lee ’39

Ash died Oct. 23, 1999, in Dillon, Colo., while drinking a martini at the Yacht Club banquet. Denver had been home to him ever since he moved there in 1965 as an executive with Midwest Oil. After getting his MBA from Harvard in 1941, he began a career as a corporate financial officer, successively with Coming Glass, Amoco, Midwest Oil (merged into Amoco), and was later senior v.p. and chief financial officer of Ideal Basic Industries. He had taken five years out for military service, seeing action in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Pacific as operations officer of a destroyer squadron, receiving a letter of commendation for his part in the Normandy landing.

Ash and his wife, Barbara Whiting, were married in 1950. They both loved skiing, fishing, and sailing, so they particularly prized their weekend/holiday getaway at The Moorings in Dillon, Colo. They also loved to travel, and once, when asked what major area he still hoped to explore, Ash, in typical jaunty style, replied "the hereafter." That time has come. To Barbara, their son, Ashton, daughter Diana Lee Crew, and two grandchildren we offer our sincere sympathy.

The Class of 1939