Robert Edwin Lee was born to Claire Melvin Lee, an engineer, and Elvira Taft Lee, a teacher, on October 15, 1918. He grew up in Elyria, Ohio. Lee married Janet Waldo, an actress, in 1948; together they had two children, Jonathan Barlow and Lucy Virginia. Lee died on July 8, 1994, in Los Angeles.
Education
Intent on becoming an astronomer, Lee attended Northwestern University in 1934 and then transferred to Ohio Wesleyan University, which (with Ohio State University) operated a giant telescope at Perkins Observatory. Interested in communications, Lee also immersed himself in broadcasting. He studied at Western Reserve University and Drake University in the late 1930s. Lee worked at the Perkins Observatory at Ohio Wesleyan while attending school there; then, while attending Western Reserve University, he worked for a radio station in Ohio.
Career
In the late 1930s, Lee moved to New York City to join an advertising firm. Lee met Lawrence in 1942 and, like Lawrence, spent time in the United States Army in the early 1940s. He was co-founder of the Armed Forces Radio Service. After being discharged from the Army, Lee continued his work with Lawrence. Although he wrote on his own, Lee’s most well known work was written in collaboration with Lawrence.
