David Francis Lee, Lawyer & Justice of Chenango & Broome Counties, NY

David Francis Lee
1885 - 1967

 

Since his admission to the bar in 1907, David Francis Lee has devoted himself to professional responsibilities in central New York.  He is a former justice of the Supreme Court of the State and in his present private practice maintains offices both in Norwich [Chenango Co. NY] and Binghamton [Broome Co., NY].  In the latter city he is senior member of the well-known firm of Lee, Levene, O'Brien and Kramer.

 

Justice Lee was born in Otselic, Chenango County, on January 19, 1885, son of John F. and Mary (Bulger) Lee.  His father, who was engaged in the produce and insurance business, was born at Truxton, Cortland County, in 1863, and died in 1936.  The mother was born in Norwich in 1865 and died in January, 1937.

 

David Francis Lee was educated in the public schools of Norwich, where he completed the  high school course in 1903, and prepared for his profession at Syracuse University.  In 1907 he was graduated from the law school of this institution, taking the degree of Bachelor of Laws, and in the same year was admitted to the New York bar, entering practice in Norwich.  Since January 1, 1927, he has also  maintained his Binghamton office as senior member of the firm of Lee, Levene, O'Brian and Kramer.

 

In addition to his many years of service in general practice, Justice Lee was district attorney of Chenango County from 1916 to 1919, and from October 1925 to January 1, 1927, presided over the Supreme Court as a Justice of the Supreme Court of New York.  This appointment reflected his high professional standing. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, The Chenango and Broome County Bar associations and a member of many non-professional organizations, including the Norwich Rotary Club, the Elks Lodge, No. 1222, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Loyal Order of Moose, the Knights of Columbus, the Norwich Club and the Canasawacta Country Club.  Justice Lee is a director of the Chenango National Bank & Trust Company of Norwich.  He is a Democrat in politics and influential in his party, and a member of the Roman Catholic Church.  Fond of outdoor sports, he finds his principal recreation in hunting and fishing.

 

On June 29, 1909, David Francis Lee married Mary (Griffin) Belisle.  They are the parents of four children:  Margaret, David, Jr., Mary and Edward J.

Central New York, An Inland Empire, Vol IV (Lewis Historical Pub. Co., Inc., New York, 1941) p8/9.
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Obituary

Binghamton Press, November 3, 1957

 

 

The funeral of David F. Lee, Sr., former Supreme Court Justice and former Broome County Democratic chairman, will be at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow at the Devine - Wilson Memorial Home, Norwich, and at 10 a.m. in St. Paul's Church.  Burial will be in St. Paul's Cemetery, Norwich.

 

Mr. Lee, father of Supreme Court Justice David F. Lee, Jr., died Wednesday night in the River-Mede Manor Convalescent and Nursing Center, Binghamton.  He had suffered a stroke during the summer.  He was 82 years old.  He had retired from politics and 1940 after a long career in public life that began when he first campaigned for William Jennings Bryan for President in the last decade of the 19th Century,  He was a schoolboy campaigner in Norwich.

 

In that career he became the confidante of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Al Smith and other towering New York political figures. He had moved to Binghamton from Norwich in the 1920s, and challenged and defeated the reigning Democratic organization led by the late William W. Farley.  He became Broome County Democratic chairman in 1927, a position he held 13 years.  In an interview last autumn Mr. Lee said:  "Mr. Roosevelt came on.  With a President of the United States going for you in a place like Binghamton, you're going to get people interested in the Democratic Party."

 

He had been a county chairman before that.  When he was 24 years old, he was Democratic leader of Chenango County, his birthplace, and it was as a youthful leader that Mr. Smith and Mr. Roosevelt came to know him and value his judgments.

 

In 1925, Mr. Smith, then governor, appointed him for 14 months to a vacancy on the Supreme Court bench in the Sixth Judicial District, a post now held by his namesake, Justice David F. Lee, Jr.  By 1940, 1t 55, he decided to return to Norwich and practice law with his sons, David, Jr., and Edward. 

 

He had been born in Otselic Jan. 19, 1885 and attended Norwich schools before going to Syracuse University and its law school, and he always had planned some day to return to Chenango County to, as he put it, "hunt and fish with my sons."  The formed a law partnership. 

 

During his time in Binghamton in the 1920s and 1930s his law firm was one of the biggest in the City.  He was a veteran of countless court trials, both criminal and civil, and was noted for fiery cross-examination and eloquence in pleading with juries.

 

Even at 81, he was proud of his physical endurance.  During an interview in his office he jumped up and down to demonstrate his vigor, "I can do this indefinitely," he told a reporter.  He said with pride, "I don't wear glasses, except to drive."

 

During his last months in his office, he also said one day to a reporter, "I'm just waiting for St. Peter, and Ed (one of his son-partners) is the boss."

 

Besides his sons, he is survived by Mrs. Lee; two daughters, Mrs. John D. Dessauer, Sr., of Pittsford, and Mrs. James Murphy, Sr., of Binghamton; one sister, Mrs. Mary Lee McManus of Kalamazoo, Mich. and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.